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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



^ Sheep * 




'A- 



SOMETHING PRACTICAL 
ABOUT SHEEP 

All Wool and a Yard Wide 

Mutton Chops Cooked to Suit the Taste 

of the Most Fastidious 

by 

JACOB BIGGLE 



ILLUSTRATED 



There is no use in keeping sheep if yoi 
have no time to bother with them. 



PHILADELPHIA 

WILMER ATKINSON CO. 



VI 



^ 

;, 



A 



Copyright, 1902 
Copyright, 1912 

WILMER ATKINSON CO. 

Second Edition- 
Fifteenth Thousand 



CCU30590B 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 
PREFACE 7 

Chapter I. History n 

Chapter II. Statistics 13 

Chapter III. Breeds 17 

Chapter IV. Climate and Location 29 

Chapter V. The Ram 31 

Chapter VI. The Ewe 35 

Chapter VII. Breeding Season 37 

Chapter VIII. Ewes before Lambing 40 

Chapter IX. Ewes at Lambing 45 

Chapter X. Lambs . 51 

Chapter XL In Pasture 59 

Chapter XII. Feeding 67 

Chapter XIII. Barn Quarters 77 

Chapter XIV. Racks and Troughs 85 

Chapter XV. Care and Handling 91 

Chapter XVI. Diseases ior 

Chapter XVII. Age 113 

Chapter XVIII. Pets 115 

Chapter XIX. Wool 117 

Chapter XX. Slaughtering 123 

Chapter XXI. Hothouse Lambs 130 

Chapter XXII. The Shepherd 135 

Chapter XXIII. The Range 138 

Chapter XXIV. Sheep Breeding Associations . . . . 141 
Reference Chart, Showing Parts of the External 

Sheep T43 

Index 144 



BREEDS ILLUSTRATED. 



The representatives of the English mutton breeds, and of the 
Rambouillets, are photographs from life of the champions at the 
International Live Stock Exposition held at Chicago, which is 
conceded the greatest annual live stock show held. The cham- 
pions in such a show are typical representatives of their respec- 
tive breeds. The other photographs are typical specimens of 
their breeds, being noted animals. 

PAGE 

Plate I. American Merino Ram 10 

Plate II. Delaine Ram 16 

Plate III. Rambouillet Ram 28 

Plate IV. Flock of Hampshire-Downs 34 

Plate V. Hampshire-Down Ewe and Ram 44 

Plate VI. Oxford-Down Ram . 50 

Plate VII. Shropshire Yearling Ewes • . 58 

Plate VIII. Southdown Ram 66 

Plate IX. Cheviot Ram and Ewe 76 

Plate X. Dorset-horn Ram and Ewe ..... 84 

Plate XI. Leicester Ewe 90 

Plate XII. Lincoln Ram 100 

Plate XIII. Cotswold Ram and Ewe 112 




PREFACE. 



The sheep industry of the United States is divided 
geographically and every other way by the Missouri 
River, and the industry as carried on west of this line 
is quite different from that east of it. Figured in 
number of sheep and capital invested the West forms 
the larger half of the business, but reckoned by the 
number of individuals engaged in sheep raising the 
East predominates. Obviously in a condensed work 
like this it would hardly be possible to treat at all 
adequately the industry of both sections, so that 
governed by the consideration of the greatest good to 
the greatest number, I shall confine myself mainly to 
the sheep business as commonly carried on in con- 
nection with other lines of agriculture. 

To be brief and to be practical are the chief aims 
of this work. It is intended not as a scientific manual 
for the educated theorist, not as a complete and 
authoritative work on sheep for the experienced 
shepherd, nor yet as a kindergarten primer for some 
theorist or faddist who may happen to turn his atten- 
tion to sheep as a fancy, but it is intended to be a 
practical guide to the average farmer who tills the 
soil, and who, wishing to advance and progress with 
the times, keeps a flock of sheep to improve his soil, 
increase his crops and wealth and add to his general 
welfare. 



8 



PREFACE. 



I shall not attempt fine theories or impracticable 
methods, simply the means to be used in the every- 
day care of a flock of sheep. Whatever finds expres- 
sion in these pages is gleaned from experience. 

Among others to whom I wish to express my 
thanks in aiding me in preparing this brief handbook 
and guide, I wish to mention W. J. Clarke, " Shepherd 
Boy," as he is known to the readers of current sheep 
lore ; to the secretaries of the various sheep breeders' 
associations for information in regard to the various 
breeds ; to Messrs. C. S. and Max Chapman, of Ohio ; 
F. B. Hartman, of Indiana ; H. E. Moore, of Michigan, 
and others for photographs. To A. A. Wood, of 
Saline, Michigan, upon whose inexhaustible fund of 
practical knowledge of sheep and all that pertains to 
them, secured by the wide experience of a lifetime, I 
have made large drafts, and to R. M. Wood, son of 
the last named, who is also a storehouse of practical 
and expert information about sheep. 




CHEVIOT EWES READY FOR SUMMER. 






'k 






Chapter I. 



HISTORY. 




"And Abel was a keeper of sheep." 

From the beginning of history 
and through all the ages the sheep has 
ever remained man's quiet and faith- 
ful friend and helper, and to-day, with 
its golden hoof, it is the boon and 
blessing of the tiller of the soil. 
A source of pleasure and profit to the patriarchs 
of sacred history, ever holding high position in the 
economic welfare of the small industrial world of the 
cultured Greek and conquering Roman, sheep were 
improved and increased ; throughout the dark and 
troublous times of the Middle Ages the industry was 
preserved, and during the rapid rise and advance of 
manufactures and all industrial pursuits of the present, 
sheep have kept pace with the march of progress and 
improvement, and still hold firm their position in the 
welfare and prosperity of the farmer. 

With the first comers to the New World came the 
sheep : with Columbus in 1493 came sheep from the 
flocks of Spain, both coarse wool and fine Merino ; 
with the English gentlemen to Virginia in 1609 sheep 
from English flocks, with wool of medium fineness ; 
with the Puritan fathers in 1624 to 1629 came the 
large, fine-wooled Wiltshire sheep from England ; 



12 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

with the Dutch to New York in 1625, the long-legged, 
coarse-wooled sheep of Zealand and Texel in Hol- 
land ; in fact, with all the colonists came sheep from 
the native land of their owners. 

These colonial sheep sheared from two to three 
pounds of medium to coarse wool, and weighed forty- 
five to sixty pounds, and from them descended the 
present native stock: those of the Eastern States from 
the sheep of the thirteen colonies ; those of the West 
from the old Mexican ewe, the descendant of the 
Spanish importations of Columbus and the Spanish 
explorers. 

Later, in 1801-11, came the Spanish Merino from 
Spain, with its remarkably fine fleece. These were 
widely disseminated, and improved the native flocks. 
In 1850-60 came many of the English mutton breeds, 
but until the last two decades wool has been the first, 
and practically the only consideration of the American 
sheep owner. 

But during this latter time has arisen and grown 
an ever increasing demand for mutton, and with it 
came large importations of all the English mutton 
breeds, and a corresponding decadence in the use of 
Merinos. To-day the sheep business is in a somewhat 
unsettled condition, with mutton the important factor 
with some sheep growers and wool with others. 

While local conditions will require special pur- 
poses, the average sheep owner will ever aim toward 
the best combination sheep producing both wool and 
mutton. 



Chapter II. 



STATISTICS. 



Let us havefezuer dogs and more sheep. 

According to the census of 1910, there were in the 
United States 29,707,00.0 ewes, 7,148,366 rams and 
wethers, 12,168,278 lambs, a grand total of over fifty- 
one million sheep and lambs. Of these 20,584,644 are 
east of the Missouri River ; only twenty million sheep 
on eastern farms where there should be fifty million. 

Of all the states Montana has the largest number, 
with 5,372,639 ; Wyoming comes next with 5,194,959 ; 
in both of these states sheep are handled in large 
bands under range conditions. Of the eastern states 
Ohio has the most, with 3,907,055, and Michigan 
next, with 2,306,476. 

Of all this number, not over half a million are 
pure-bred registered sheep ; about ten million are 
grades and cross-breds, that is, more than half pure- 
bred, while the great majority of four to one is native, 
or scrub, and there are many of the latter that are 
everything that the word implies. 

The average value of all sheep in the United 
States may be estimated at from three to four dollars 
per head, according to the time of year. The total 
valuation is estimated at one hundred and eighty 
million dollars. 

Chicago is the greatest sheep market in the 
world, 5,229,294 sheep, valued at 129,346,532 being 



14 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

handled there in 1910; the largest day's receipts were 
63,000 ; the largest for a week 200,000. During 1910 
Omaha handled 2,984,870; Kansas City, 1,841,173; 
Buffalo, 1,389,000. Ten leading markets handled a 
grand total of 14,514,280 sheep in 1910, while there is 
no means of estimating the number marketed and 
slaughtered by the growers and local dealers through- 
out the country. 

In the last decade a large movement of feeders 
from the markets to farmers in the country has de- 
veloped. In 1910 nearly three million feeders were 
sent from three markets in four months. 

The estimated total wool clip of 1910 was 
336,896,903 pounds, at an average valuation of 22 
cents per pound. The estimated average shrinkage 
is sixty per cent. The average weight of fleece is 
approximately seven pounds. 

The largest wool shipping point from the grower 
is Miles City, Montana, which shipped about ten 
million pounds in 1910 ; Great Falls, Montana, shipped 
about eight million pounds, and Casper, Wyoming, 
about six million pounds. 

The total importations for 1910 were about one 
hundred million pounds, and exports practically none. 

Every person in the United States wears out seven 
pounds of wool every year, on an average. 

The heaviest sheep on record is a Lincoln ram, 
weighing 456 pounds ; the next heaviest is an Oxford, 
weighing 436 pounds. 

The heaviest fleece on record is that of an Ameri- 
can Merino, weighing 52 pounds ; followed by another 
Merino, with 44^ pounds at public shearing. 



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Chapter III. 



BREEDS. 



That breed is best which will receive the best care. 

I must necessarily be confined to only the most 
essential and general points of the various breeds, and 
do not aim to give preference to one breed over 
another ; there is room for all, and all are profitable 
in their place, except the scrub, which has no place in 
the flock of any farmer who expects to succeed. 
A list of the secretaries of the various breed associa- 
tions is given in the back of the book, any one of 
whom will cheerfully give fuller information concern- 
ing his particular breed. 

The Merino is a native of Spain, the Spanish 
sheep in turn being descended from the famous fine- 
wooled sheep of Tarentum, in Italy. The ancestors 
of the Merinos in America were exported from 1783 
to 1 81 1. They are hardy, long-lived, small to medium 
size, unequalled for fineness and weight of fleece ; 
native to a cool, dry climate and a broken and some- 
what mountainous country ; very adaptable to chang- 
ing conditions of climate and locality, to running in 
large flocks and thriving on short, scanty herbage. 

The Spanish or American Merino. — (See 
Plate I. ) Descended from importations made to the 
United States, direct from Spain, in 1799 and the sue- 




l8 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

ceeding years to 1811. First flock record established 

in 1876. First radical development was toward 

wrinkly, oily, heavy-fleeced sheep ; some breeders 

continue to breed this style of sheep, density and 

weight of fleece being their object. 

These extremely wrinkly Merinos 

are now known as A type Merinos, 

or Vermont Merinos. Later and 

present tendency of the majority of 

breeders is toward larger, smoother 

sheep, with heavy neck and hip 

American merino folds, but plain bodies, longer staple 

ram. of wool and freer from grease. 

These are now known as B type Merinos. Average 

weight of rams, 150 to 175 pounds, and shear 23 to 35 

pounds; ewes weigh 115 to 130 pounds, and shear 

15 to 22 pounds. Wool grades heavy fine, fine, and 

fine delaine, with a staple of 2 to 3 inches. They are 

essentially a wool sheep, very long-lived, as well as 

having all other qualities of a Merino. 

Delaine. — (See Plate II.) Same origin as Ameri- 
can, but aim in breeding has always been toward a 
long, fine staple of wool, free from grease, and more 
attention to the form of the sheep. They were first 
developed in Pennsylvania and Ohio, solely by selec- 
tion, breeding and feeding. There are several differ- 
ent families and registries as the Standard, the Black 
Top, the Improved and the Dickinson, these differ- 
ences being mainly due to blood lines in breeding 
and some minor characteristics, but all are essentially 
Delaines, aiming toward the same kind of sheep. 
Rams weigh 160 to 200 pounds, and shear 18 to 25 



BREEDS. 



19 




pounds ; ewes weigh 120 to 140 pounds, and shear 12 
to 16 pounds. Wool grades fine delaine, with a 
staple of 3 to 5 inches. 

Rambouillet. — (See Plate III.) Origin, Spain; 
imported to royal estate at Rambouillet, France, in 
1786, whence the name. Imported to the United 
States in 1846, 1851, and 
also recently. Bred for 
a combination of wool 
and mutton, with the 
idea of producing a 
sheep with a good fleece 
and the essential Merino 
characteristics and at the 
same time a good mar- 
ketable mutton body. 
Flock record established 
in 1891. Rams weigh 
225 to 300 pounds, and shear 18 to 25 pounds ; ewes 
weigh 150 to 200 pounds, and shear 12 to 16 pounds. 
Wool grades fine to fine medium, with a staple of 2^ 
to 4 inches. They are the largest of the Merinos, 
and are very popular both on eastern farms and 
western ranges. 

It is claimed that the Rambouillet is easily kept 
and that it is peculiarly well adapted to the range 
country. The breed is dense-wooled, large and 
smooth, and produces large lambs, running in weight 
from 80 to over 100 pounds when 6 months old. 

Mutton Breeds. — Native to Great Britain ; 
quick maturers, short-lived, comparatively light 
fleeced, and generally adaptable to intensive farming 



CHAMPION RAMBOUILLET EWE 
" BERNICE." 



20 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

and artificial conditions of feed, primarily for mutton. 
Wool grades medium to combing. 

Hampshire-Down. — (See Plate V.) Natives of 
the ridge lands of the chalk districts lying south of 
London, England. The district of Hampshire is their 
home. From the best authority attainable they 
undoubtedly originated from crossing Southdown 
rams upon the native black-faced sheep of Hampshire 
and Berkshire. A few flocks were started in America 
in the South before the war, but became entirely 
annihilated during the progress of that episode. The 
first organized effort for their importation to this 
country of which we have record was in about 1875. 
Flock record established in America in 1889. Mature 
rams weigh 250 to 350 pounds ; ewes weigh 150 to 250 
pounds. Flocks shear from 8 to 12 pounds. Wool is 
known as three-eighths blood ; it is a fine quality of 
clothing. They will thrive in any climate, on any 
soil, and under any conditions that any sheep will ; a 
dry soil and temperate zone preferable for these, as 
well as for all other sheep. Excellence : early maturity, 
constitutional vigor ; docility and motherly qualities ; 
adaptability ; fecundity ; prepotency. The Hampshire 
is a very large sheep, and has given excellent satisfac- 
tion as a producer of feeding lambs for the early and 
Christmas markets. 

Oxford-Down. — (See Plate VI.) Natives of 
Oxfordshire, England. Originated from crossing 
Cotswold rams on Hampshire ewes. First importa- 
tion to the United States in 1846, again in 1853, to 
Delaware and Virginia. Flock record established in 
1^64. Rams weigh 250 to 350 pounds, and shear 12 to 



BREEDS. 



21 



16 pounds ; ewes weigh 180 to 275 pounds, and shear 
10 to 12 pounds. Wool grades medium. Excellence : 
weight of the Longwool, quality of the Down. 

They are the largest of the Down breeds, and 
have the heaviest and coarsest fleece. They are best 




A NICK FLOCK OF OXFORD-DOWNS. 

adapted to intensive farming,, and will thrive on 
abundant pasture, which inclines to grow somewhat 
coarse and rank. 

Shropshire-Down.— (See Plate VII.) Indige- 
nous to Shropshire county, England, known in the 
thirteenth century. First importation to the United 
States was in 1844. Mature rams weigh 225 pounds, 
and shear 12 to 16 pounds ; ewes weigh 165 pounds, 
and shear 8 to 12 pounds. Wool grades best medium 
delaine, with a staple of 4 to 6 inches. Excellence : 
early maturity, fecundity, prolificacy, style, appear- 
ance, docility; generally adaptable to farming condi- 
tions in the East, but do best where the pasture is 
abundant and the land comparatively level. 

Of all the mutton breeds, Shropshires are the 
most popular and most extensively used in the United 
States and Canada ; they have more recorded animals 




22 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

than all the other mutton breeds combined, and have 
the largest sheep registry association in the United 
States. The cross of Shropshire rams on native ewes 

■ has been very satisfac- 
I tory in furnishing mutton 
I lambs for feeding. 

Southdown. — (See 
J Plate VIII.) Native to 
I Sussex, England ; from 
the earliest known period 
they were found on the 
downs of Sussex, but 
prize yearling Shropshire were first improved by 
R AM - John Ellman, Glynde, 

England, in 1780. The first importations into the 
United States were in 1824-8, to Pennsylvania and 
New York. Rams weigh about 200 pounds and 
shear 9 pounds; ewes weigh 150 pounds and shear 
7 pounds. Wool grades fine medium, being the 
finest of the medium wools. They will thrive where 
climate, soil and conditions are unfavorable, but 
are best adapted to improved farming conditions. 
They are hardy, early maturers, produce a fine 
quality of meat, it being well graded with fat and 
lean, and is juicy and finely flavored. They have 
been bred pure for many years, and impress their 
good qualities upon the native stock ; they have con- 
tributed much to the origination of several of the 
other pure dark-faced breeds. They are the smallest 
of the English mutton breeds in America. 

Cheviot. — (See Plate IX.) Native to the Chev- 
iot Hills of Scotland ; there is a legend that they are 



BREEDS. 23 

descended from some sheep saved from the ships of 
an invading Spanish Armada that were wrecked off 
the coast of Scotland, but they have been in Scotland 
for many hundred years. The first importation to the 
United States was in 1842, to Otsego county, New 
York, where they are still very popular. Flock record 
established in 1891. Rams weigh 200 to 350 pounds, 




JUST NOTICE THE PRIZES WE CHEVIOTS HAVE WON. 

and shear 12 pounds ; ewes weigh 150 to 200 pounds, 
and shear 7 to 9 pounds. Wool grades medium, with 
a staple of about 5 inches. They are adaptable to 
almost any condition, but especially to upland, dry 
pastures. They are hardy, free from disease, easy 
keepers, and large milkers. 

Dorset-horxs. — (See Plate X.) Native to Dor- 
setshire and Somersetshire, England. First imported 
to the United States in 1887 ; to Canada in 1885. 
Average weight of rams, 200 to 225 pounds, fleece 8 
pounds ; ewes weigh 140 to 175 pounds, shear 6 
pounds. Both rams and ewes have horns. Special 
excellence : winter, or hothouse lambs, as they are 
very prolific, often breeding twice a year. 

Leicester. — (See Plate XI.) Native to Leices- 
tershire, England ; they originated from the old long- 
wooled sheep of that county, which were called the 
Dishley breed. They were improved by the first 
improver of modern live stock, Robert Bakewell, by 



24 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



selection and in-and-in breeding. First importation 
to the United States was in 1812, by a Mr. Lax, of 
Long Island, New York. Flock record established in 
1S88. Rams weigh 225 to 250 pounds, and shear about 
12 pounds ; ewes weigh 175 to 200 pounds, and shear 
9 to 10 pounds. Wool grades long or combing, with a 
staple of 10 to 12 inches. They are adapted to almost 
any soil or climate, with proper protection for winter, 
but do best on arable land, and in a climate which 
furnishes an abundance of succulent vegetation. Excel- 
lence : their size, and the ease with which they lay on 
fat, also the fine bone and light offal, together with 
length and weight of wool. They have been most 
popular and widely used in Ontario, Canada ; they 
have also been extensively used in improving the 
other long wool breeds. 

Lincoln. — (See Plate XII.) Native to Lincoln- 
shire, England. They were improved by selection 

and careful breeding, 
from the old native 
sheep of Lincolnshire, 
dating back about 150 
years. The first im- 
portation to the L T nited 
States was about 1872. 
Flock record estab- 
lished in 1S91. Rams 
weigh about 300 
pounds, and shear 20 to 
25 pounds ; ewes weigh 
to 18 pounds. Wool 
lustrous, with a staple of 




TWO BEAUTIES AND THEIR OWNER 

250 pounds and shear 15 
grades combing, is long and 



BREEDS. 



25 



10 to 12 inches. They are adapted to almost any cli- 
mate ; the best flocks in England are raised on both 
light and heavy soils, and the fens or lowlands of 
Lincolnshire, showing that they adapt themselves to 
any soil. Like all other sheep, they need a dry place 
to lie, and good feed ; they probably do best on level, 
arable land, where pasture is abundant. Excellence : 
hardy, good feeders, prolific, produce a large amount 
of mutton, and a long luster wool adapted to produce 
a certain kind of material that can be obtained from 
no other wool. 

Cotswold. — (See Plate XIII. ) Native to Glouces- 
tershire and Oxford counties, England. The original 
Cotswolds were one of the earliest breeds of sheep in 
England, being noted for their wool production ; 
about the beginning of the 19th century, they were 




A GOOD BUNCH OF COTSWOI.DS. 

improved by the crossing of Bakewell Leicester rams 
on the Cotswold flocks ; since then improvement has 
been by selection and care in breeding. The first 
importation into the United States was to New York 
j in 1832. Flock record established 1878. Average 



26 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



weight of rams is 225 pounds, shearing 18 pounds ; 
ewes weigh 175 pounds and shear 14 pounds. Wool 
grades coarse combing and braid, with a staple of 10 
inches. They are best adapted to a limestone soil, and 
will adapt themselves to most parts of the United 
States and Canada, but require good pastures. Excel- 
lence : they combine mutton form, weight of carcass, 
with heavy fleece. This wool is always in quick de- 
mand, and close to the top of the market in price. 

There are several other breeds in Great Britain 
which have not yet been generally introduced into the 
United States, so that they need not be considered 
here. 




A WELSH MOUNTAIN RAM. 



Chapter IV. 



CLIMATE AND LOCATION. 



Sheep are the most adaptable to change of climate and soil 
of any of the domestic animals. 



i ' - " "-'''* 



Different breeds are adapted 
to different conditions, but all 
sheep do best in a compara- 
tively dry and temperate cli- 
mate, on a dry soil, where the 
contour of the country is roll- 
ing and broken. The land must grow good grass, 
for that is the principal feed all the year, especially 
clover and blue-grass. 

High, rolling land of clay loam, with limestone 
subsoil, is the best for sheep. It furnishes a great 
variety of grasses that are sweet and nutritious. 
A sandy soil does not furnish as good feed, but sheep 
will do well and improve the soil. In any case dry 
land is necessary ; sheep and water, so far as soil is 
concerned, do not make a profitable combination. In 
the semi-arid regions of the West, where grass is the 
only feed and snow furnishes nearly all the water, 
sheep have proven the most profitable of all industries. 
Bottom lands are generally too wet for sheep, 
inducing worms and foot-rot, the two great enemies of 
sheep in the East. 



30 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Sheep will enrich a farm. No manure so 
strengthens and fertilizes the soil as sheep manure. 
A farm a little light or too heavy makes good sheep 
land, and sheep will improve it and increase its pro- 
ductive capacity. 

Except for hothouse lambs, the location as 
regards markets for sheep raising is immaterial. 
Buffalo is the greatest sheep market for Eastern bred 
and fed stock, while all the other large cities have 
good stock yards and markets. There is always a 
good market for wool and mutton everywhere. 



STEPPING STONES. 

The worst enemy of the sheep is the dog, and the worst variety 
the bird dog. 

Keep posted as to the markets, both wool and mutton ; know 
what your products are worth. 

There is no animal on the farm that returns so large profits for 
the money invested as a sheep. 

Subscribe for up-to-date sheep and farm papers, and then read 
them ; you can not learn too much. 

A flock of the right kind of sheep is likely to be as solid per- 
sonal property as the farmer can have. 

In the case of Mutton vs. Pork it is a strong point that sheep 
never suffer from hog cholera or swine plague. 

Of the domestic animals, the sheep furnishes the richest 
manure ; it is better than any commercial fertilizer. 

Sheep are good animals for hilly land. They do not require 
much of cultivated crops, and they do require dry footing. 

There is a place for everything, but to succeed, everything 
must be in its place. Out of its place, the best thing is worthless. 

Sheep are the best of manure spreaders, as well as manure 
makers ; but they should be kept in the fields and not on the road, 
as we too often see them. 

There is no use in keeping sheep if you haven't time to bother 
with them ; but you can do nothing that will pay you better for 
the time and work spent than sheep. 



Chapter V. 



THE RAM. 




Don't pet or tease the tarn; it will make him uglv and 
dangerous. 

4fj^^ The ram is half the flock ; 

g^ yes, the whole flock, for without 
a good ram no breeder can pro- 
duce good lambs. Always use 
pure bred rams. Go to any good 
* reliable breeder of your breed of 
sheep, get a good ram, and do not be afraid to pay 
for him. The difference in the cost of a good sire and 
a poor ram is repaid many times by the increased 
value of the first crop of lambs. 

Buy a ram that has individual merit and breeding 
to back it up. He must have a strong constitution, be 
active and vigorous ; look well to the size of bone in 
the fore leg. His head should be masculine and 
denote strength, broad and of medium length ; short, 
thick neck, set on full, straight shoulders, with broad 
chest and full heart girth ; strong, broad back, round, 
well-sprung rib, with straight hind legs. 

Look to size and form first, then to fleece. Have 

as thick a fleece as possible, with as much staple as 

the density will warrant ; head, leg and belly should 

1 be well covered, and the fleece should be of even 

quality all over the body. 



32 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Masculinity and strength are the essentials. A 
good head, strong fore leg and full heart girth gen- 
erally denote a good ram. 

Do not buy a show ram ; he may look nice, but 
one in good thriving condition will give you better 
results. Buy a well-bred ram, for good breeding is 
next in importance to good individuality. You are 
not buying a ram for the pounds of mutton or wool 
there is in his body, but it is what he will produce that 
you are buying. Get a better ram each time you buy. 

The time to secure your ram is in the late sum- 
mer or early fall. Do not wait until the day you want 
to use him, and then expect to find exactly what you 
need. Get your ram a month or more before you 
want to use him, so that he will get accustomed to you 
and his surroundings, feed, water, etc. August to 
October is the principal time to buy a ram. 



FOOT NOTES. 

Do not think that an animal must be imported to be good. 

Early lambs sell the best, and oats will make them grow the 
fastest. 

The stock ram should have breeding as well as individual 
merit, but a large part of it should show on his back. 

The object of keeping and feeding animals is profit, and it 
should always be a matter of study how to get the most weight at 
the least cost. 

To stock a certain amount of land with sheep requires less 
capital than to stock the same land with cattle or horses. This is 
a point for the man with limited means. 

For a ram that is continually fighting or knocking the pen 
down, take a piece of cloth, soft leather or felt (the leg of an old 
felt boot will do), have it large enough to cover the face and eyes, 
tie it around his horns, and let him go. 



Chapter VL 



THE EWE. 




Don't let tne butcher coax away the best ewe lamb. 

Every flockowner should start 
with a small flock ; handle what 
he can take good care of, and 
increase the number with increas- 
ing accommodations and expe- 
rience. 

Having decided on the breed, breed your flock 
pure ; there is nothing gained by crossing the breeds. 
Such produce always proves uncertain and unsatisfac- 
tory as breeders, and continual crossing soon results 
in a scrub. Have your flock uniform ; they should 
look as near alike as possible. 

See that they look like ewes and not like rams. 
Have them good average size, well proportioned and 
symmetrical. A feminine head, clean-cut nostrils, clear 
eye, small neck, long and thin as compared to a 
ram's, strong shoulders with good heart girth, round, 
well-sprung rib, back slightly arched, with well-filled 
hips and straight hind legs. 

The ewes must be strong boned and have good 
constitutions ; the size of the fore leg is a good indica- 
tor of both. Life and vigor in the ewes means strong 
lambs. 

Look well to your fleeces. The ewes must have 
thick fleeces and long staple, must be well covered on 



3^ BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

head and legs, and evenly fleeced on all parts of the 
body. 

Know that they are well bred ; scrub stock is no 
good to breed. Do not think because it seems cheap 
that you can breed from it and improve it. It is far 
more profitable to start right with good stock and 
improve that ; improvement of good stock is a distinct 
profit. 



SHEEPLETS. 

Blood will tell. 

Get good mothers and good milkers. 

Uniformity is of prime importance in breeding. 

Good blood is the foundation of a good animal. 

Get as good quality as you can, but have the whole flock the 
same quality. 

Never buy a poor sheep ; let the next man fool with it, you 
have not time nor feed to throw away, you do not need to make an 
experiment. 

The profitable sheep are those that keep their heads close to 
their business of eating; they lose no time, for they always put in 
good work at the trough and the rack. 

Do you know if there is any kind of farm stock so profitable as 
a little flock of good sheep well kept? I don't. Try a few sheep 
and see if they don't come out " on top." 



Chapter VII. 



BREEDING SEASON. 




Fat ewes do not raise lambs. 

The breeding season should 
begin about November ist for 
the average sheepman, which 
brings the lambs about April ist. 
In the Northern States experience 
has shown that April is the best month for lambs to 
come. Those who want lambs for the Christmas 
market, or earlier, should have their lambs come in 
February or March, which will necessitate breeding in 
September or October. But for this, a warm barn 
and a plenty of roots and clover hay are absolutely 
necessary, while early lambs require much extra care. 
The extra expense of raising early lambs is seldom 
repaid by the increased growth ; there is nothing like 
green grass to make milk and grow lambs. 

Ewes should be bred in the fall after they are one 
year old, making them have lambs when two years 
old ; some slow-maturing ewes should not be bred 
until after two years old. The breeding period of 
ewes is every seventeen to twenty-one days. The 
period of gestation is calculated at one hundred and 
forty-five days, but five months is the average time. 

Have your ewes in good thriving condition, but 
not fat ; that does not mean to keep them poor, for 
that would bring small, weak lambs. They should be 



38 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

grazed on an old pasture, timothy or blue-grass, for at 
least two weeks before breeding begins. Be careful 
not to use fresh clover pasture ; there is much danger 
of the ewes not getting with lamb. If thin in con- 
dition, a grain feed of two parts oats and one part 
corn, one-half pound per head, fed at night, will 
strengthen them. 

The ram should be kept in a small place apart 
from the ewes during the night, and should be given 
a feed of grain, both night and morning, when away 
from the ewes. His feed should be four parts oats, 
one part corn, and to this add a small handful of 
wheat ; give about a quart to a feed. 

The ram should run with the ewes during the 
day, and be taken away from them when they come to 
the barn at night. He eats and rests at night, and in 
the daytime the ewes are all up and stirring, so that 
the ram can find those in heat. 

To secure the most service from a ram, the ewes 
should be "tried out" every morning, to determine 
which are in heat, and those thus found should be 
taken from the flock, kept in the barn, and be served 
during the day, allowing the ram to give each ewe but 
one service. In this way the strength of the ram is 
preserved, although requiring more time and work on 
the part of the shepherd. Ewes bred thus can be so 
marked and recorded as to enable the shepherd to tell 
nearly what time they will lamb. When this method 
is used, the ram should be kept in the barn all the 
time during breeding. 

One ram will serve seventy-five to one hundred 
ewes, if well fed and properly handled. This is for 



BREEDING SEASON. 



39 



mature rams in good condition. Yearlings or older 
should be used, as they breed stronger lambs, and can 
breed more ewes. Breed a large, strong, matured 
ram. 

It is not advisable to use a ram lamb, but if not 
more than twenty or twenty-five ewes are to be bred, 
a large early lamb may be used, if the flock consists 
of old ewes, but not with young ewes. Such a lamb 
must be given special care and extra feed during ser- 
vice, to insure a successful lamb crop. 

A good ration for breeding ewes consists of the 
following : ten pounds wheat bran, ten pounds corn, 
one pound linseed meal, mixed. This should be suf- 
ficient for twenty ordinary ewes, fed on two pounds of 
cut turnips, rutabagas or mangolds, each daily, divided 
into two feeds, morning and night. But much depends 
upon the roughage. 




Chapter VIII. 



EWES BEFORE LAMBING. 




After the breeding season, 
which should close by Decem- 
ber i st, the care of the ewes de- 
pends on the weather. If the 
winter holds open and there is 
no snow on the ground, let them 
horned dorset ewes, run out on an old blue-grass pas- 
ture as long as there is any grass. There is considerable 
nutriment to this grass ; in fact, it is nothing but hay 
cured on the ground. Give them a feed of oats, 
mixed with a little corn and bran, once a day, and 
they should come to the barn at night for a mess of 
hay. Let them have this care so long as there is no 
snow. When the latter comes and covers the grass, 
then they must be put onto dry feed. 

During the early winter plenty of fresh air and 
exercise, together with good rough feed, are the main 
essentials. The method which gives us the best 
result is as follows : For morning feed, a mess of 
grain, consisting of two parts oats and one part corn, 
one bushel to sixty head. For rough feed, straw and 
cornstalks, as much as they will eat up clean. Feed 
the stalks out in a field or in the yard, and also the 
straw. What is left will fill up the yard, and keep it 
clean when the weather is wet and sloppy. Always 



EWES BEFORE LAMBING. 



41 



feed this rough fodder out of doors. A little brine, 
scattered on the straw every other morning, will make 
it more palatable to the sheep, and they will eat it up 
cleaner. At night, a good feed of clover hay is 
enough. Feed all they will eat, but no more ; make 
them eat it up clean. Mixed hay will do, but timothy 
is poor stuff ; good stalks are better. 

Be sure to have clean, fresh water where they can 
have access to it at all times. 

The lamb crop depends on the care of the ewes 
during the winter, remembering that to have healthy 




COTSWOLD EWES. 

lambs the ewes must be strong and vigorous, but not 
fat, and the main essential to this is plenty of exercise 
and fresh air. 

The great danger in handling breeding ewes prior 
to lambing is that of keeping too close and feeding too 



42 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

highly. Ewes fed on fattening foods and kept under 
the same conditions as are sheep being fitted for 
market must not be expected to raise strong lambs. 
The pregnant ewe must have such food and care as 
will nourish and grow the lamb within her, and give it 
vigor and strength when it is born ; for this, muscle- 
and milk-forming foods and exercise are the main 
essentials. 

The ewes which will lamb first, if you have a large 
bunch, should be separated from the rest, one to two 
or three weeks before the lambs are due to come ; put 
them in a warm place, and give them more and differ- 
ent feed. Some laxative food, such as bran and roots, 
should be fed with oats. One-third bran, one-third 
oats, and one-third roots, twice a day, in the propor- 
tion of about a bushel to sixty head, at a feed, makes 
a good grain ration, 

After the ewes have lambed, the grain ration can 
be just about doubled, as soon as the ewes have well 
recovered from the effects of parturition. They should 
also have all the good clover hay, or mixed clover with 
a little timothy, that they will eat up clean. 



BE CAREFUL. 

The most dainty animal is the sheep. 

Keep the sheep dry always on the outside. Inside, never. 

Do not handle ewes heavy in lamb ; there is danger of abor- 
tion and of death to the ewes. 

Cleanliness counts big in the management of a flock. Clean 
water, clean yards, and plenty of clean, sweet food. 

Don't crowd your breeding ewes through some little narrow 
door ; crowding and jamming of pregnant ewes kills many lambs, 
and often the ewes. 



w 

< 

CL, 




Chapter IX. 



EWES AT LAMBING. 




BROTHERS. 



When a ewe is preparing to 
give birth to her lamb, she will 
stand by herself, away from the 
rest of the flock, will refuse to eat, 
will look gaunt and sunken above 
the hip bones on either side of the 
backbone, and the udder becomes 
full . These are the first symptoms, 
which generally appear from six to eighteen hours be- 
fore lambing. Gradually she becomes uneasy, walk- 
ing, lying down and getting up often, a passage of the 
water sacs soon occurs, and if everything is right, the 
pains should come and induce the ewe to give birth 
to her lamb ; this latter should be soon after the pas- 
sage of the water sacs, at the most not more than six 
hours. 

If the ewe has her lamb within twenty-four hours 
after she begins to show signs of lambing, all is well, 
and Nature will do everything required ; sometimes, 
however, especially with young ewes, a little help at 
the time when they are ready to lamb, helps the ewe 
and saves the lamb. If you happen to be present 
when the lamb is born, see that the skin over the nose 
is at once removed, to keep the lamb from smother- 
ing ; if the lamb does not begin to breathe, hold his 



4 6 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



head up and blow gently into his open mouth, until 
he begins to breathe. 

If there is something wrong, and it is impossible 
for the ewe to lamb, secure at once some experienced 
shepherd or a veterinary. 

The ewes that have lambs should be separate from 
those that have not. The ewe will generally take care 
of herself and her lamb, without particular attention. 




LINCOLN EWES AND LAMBS. 

During and after lambing, the ewe flock need 
close and constant care. After the ewe has lambed, 
care should be taken that the afterbirth, or cleaning, 
is delivered, and if not within twelve hours after lamb- 
ing, should be removed. In case there has been much 
effort on the part of the ewe during lambing, and 
there is danger of inflammation, take a syringe and 
cleanse the womb with a pint of warm water, into 
which has been poured rive to ten drops of carbolic 
acid. 

When the ewe has lambed, start the milk in the 
udder by pulling the teat between the moistened thumb 



EWES AT LAMBING. 47 

and forefinger, and help the lamb to his first meal ; if 
the lamb is strong and lively, the ewe a good mother, 
and everything is all right, the lamb will help himself. 
Care should be taken to notice, twice a day, that the 
lamb is sucking both sides of the udder ; in case the 
ewe gives more milk than the lamb wants, be sure to 
suckle out the ewe with some twin or orphan lamb, 
and do this until the ewe's own lamb takes all her milk. 

See that the ewe does not become costive and 
feverish ; to prevent this, feed laxative foods, such as 
roots and bran ; in case these do not prove sufficiently 
effective, and passage of the bowels is attended by 
effort, give the ewe two tablespoonfuls of castor oil or 
a similar dose of Epsom salts. 

Care must be taken to withhold rich foods for a 
time before and after lambing, for if the milk flow be 
over-stimulated at this time the udder will become 
inflamed and distended, which may result in the loss of 
the ewe. Frequent and prolonged bathings with hot 
water will reduce the inflammation of the udder. 

For the ewe that will not own her lamb, or 
the lamb that will not help himself, and for the lamb 
w r hich is put on a ewe other than its mother, there is 
just one method of treatment, viz. : put in a small pen 
by themselves, and keep there until the lamb helps 
himself ; until then the lamb should be helped from 
five to eight times a day, the oftener the better. In 
most cases, three to ten days proves amply sufficient 
to bring the ewe to own the lamb, or the lamb to help 
himself, and oftentimes it does not take so long. We 
have found this the only practical way to make ewes 
own their lambs. 



48 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, whose "Four Books of 
Husbandry " were published about 1523, gives among 
many curious matters instructions how " To make an 
ewe love her lamb." If the ewe has milk and will not 
allow her lamb to suck, the herdsman was to put her 
in " a narrow place made of boards a yard wide and 
put the lamb to her," and if, when it tried to suckle, 
the ewe "smite the lamb with her head," she was to 
be tied with a hay rope to the side of the pen ; and if 
then she would not stand she was to get a little hay, 
and a dog was to be tied by her where she could see 
him, "and this wyll make her to love her lambe 
shortely." 

At lambing time, small temporary pens, about 
three by five feet, should be made in or near the pen 
where are the flock of lambing ewes, and into one of 
these pens should go a ewe with twins when she has 
first lambed, ewes that do not own their lambs, and 
those whose lambs do not help themselves. Care 
should be taken in feeding single ewes with lambs, 
that they are not fed too much. Feed roots, oats and 
bran, but do not feed more than the ewe will eat. 
Also see that the ewe is watered two or three times a 
day ; sheep will generally drink after eating grain, and 
more at night than in the morning. 

In rare cases the ewe may eat the tail or feet of the 
new-born lamb, due to fondness for her offspring, and 
sometimes to a lack of salt. It occurs only when the 
lamb is just born, as the ewe is licking him, and can 
be prevented by wrapping the lamb in a blanket until 
he is dry and able to walk, taking care that the ewe can 
not lick his feet. If the tail is eaten, cut it off at once. 



Chapter X, 



LAMBS. 









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■". ■¥ 


*<£■' ,' 


% 


WkSM--^ 




. 3 

■jjfr.... .:'■$£'*$& 



The lamb is the ewe s certificate of character, and especially 
it tells what the character of the shepherd is. 

During the first year of their 
life, lambs should be given good 
feed and plenty of it, and kept 
growing. The quality of the flock 
depends on the feeding and grow- 
ing of the young lambs, for a 
stunted lamb can never be de- 
veloped into a good sheep. It 
is the lamb that makes the sheep, but it is the care 
and feed that develops the lamb into a sheep, and 
it is the abundance or lack of care and feed 
that produces a valuable and profitable animal or a 
scrub. Lambs are little things, and it takes only a 
little thing to check their growth and stunt them. 
Warm sheds, plenty of feed and the right kind, both 
for lambs and ewes, careful attention to the little de- 
tails, such as seeing that each lamb finds its mother, 
the e\\ e's udder is clean, the lamb is taking all the ewe's 
milk, that the ewe eats well and is growing the lamb, 
and the many other little attentions required to keep 
the lamb growing, all these are necessary to convert 
the little lamb into a large woolly sheep that brings 
profit to its owner. 



52 



E-IGGLE SHEEP 300K, 



The ewes and lambs should be the first to go to 
grass in the spring and should be given the best feed. 
A fresh clover pasture is the best, and if this can not 
possibly be had, a fresh blue-grass pasture, but the 
latter should be used only a short time, in any case. 
Give them as newly seeded pastures as possible, and 
in no case put them on some old pasture, thinking any 
old thing good enough for sheep. Old pastures are 
generally productive of worms in lambs, and that 
means death. 

For the first month after the ewes and lambs are 
turned to grass, have them come to the barn every 




HILLSIDE PASTURE. 



night ; give them a mess of grain, at first as much as 
they have been having on dry feed, and gradually re- 
ducing it, until by the first of June you have taken it 
away entirely. Start the reduction of the grain ration, 
first by reducing the quantity at each feed, but still 
giving a feed night and morning ; then take away the 
one in the morning, and finallv the evening: feed. As 



LAMBS. 53 

to hay, feed the same as when entirely on dry feed, 
except not so much ; feed just a very little in the 
morning, and turn the ewes out to pasture about nine 
or ten o'clock, depending on the weather. Bring them 
up at night, and give them a good feed of hay. In both 
cases, maintain the grain ration as before described. 

Do not think because you have turned the sheep 
to grass that they can get all their living that way at 
once ; the change is too sudden, and your sheep wall 
grow poor for the first month, if you give them no dry 
feed. Such a sudden change also often causes disease 
of the digestive organs, and is detrimental to the 
sheep in every w T ay ; especially is this true of ewes 
and lambs. The grass at first is soft and flashy, and 
the effect is too laxative. 

For early pasture, rye sown in the fall makes a 
very good feed, as it starts as soon as the frost is out 
of the ground, and grows very rapidly. For a later 
feed, about the last of June and July, have a field of 
rape to which the lambs can have access ; it is fresh, 
the lambs like it, and it makes them grow. Until the 
lambs are weaned, keep them on your best and fresh- 
est feed, and the increased growth will make itself 
evident in the condition of the lambs. 

The lambs should run with the ewes about four to 
five months, which brings weaning time about August 
ist to 15th. At this time put the lambs on a newly 
mown clover meadow from which the first hay crop 
has been taken. This will furnish good fresh feed ; also 
have the rape field handy. Then put some troughs 
in the lot, and once a day, either about nine o'clock 
in the morning or just before dark in the evening, give 




i 




LAMBS. 



55 



the lambs a mess of oats and bran, two parts oats and 
one part bran, about a half bushel to fifty head. 
Always have the troughs clean, and do not feed more 
than they will eat up clean before leaving the troughs. 

Always have clean, fresh water where the lambs 
can have access to it at all times. Water is half their 
living. 

Keep salt by them at all times. Have a small 
box in the barn or lot which the lambs can reach but 
can not step into, and keep salt there all the time. 

When the lambs are about six weeks old a small 




ON THE ROAD TO MARKET. 



pen should be fixed for them, where bran and salt 
should be kept all the time, and to which the lambs 
should have access by means of a creep — that is, a 
hole through which they can go and the ewes can not. 
This can be made by placing two boards perpendicu- 
larly, with a space between them just large enough for 
the lamb to go. When the lambs become used to eat- 
ing bran, mix a few oats with the bran, and gradu- 
ally accustom them to more oats. For this grain have 
a small trough at one side of the pen, where the lambs 
cannot jump into it. 



56 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



Lanios are born with an unnecessary appendage, a 
tail. This should be removed when the lamb is from 
one to three weeks old. For docking, have a man grasp 
the lamb firmly by the legs, holding both the right legs 
in his right hand and both the left legs in the left hand, 

and set the lamb on his 
knees. The operator, with 
a sharp knife, disinfected 
with some antiseptic, re- 
moves the tail. He should 
find a joint in the heavy 
part of the tail, and aim 
to hit it. It will hurt the 
lamb less, and leave a 
better looking cut. If the 
lamb bleeds too much sear 
with a hot iron. The btst 
time to do this is at night, 
the last thing before dark, 
so that the lambs can lie down, and not be disturbed 
or run around the pen so as to cause bleeding. 




LAMB CHOPS. 

In docking, do not cut off the end of the backbone. 

Lambs should be weaned at four to four and one-half months 
old. 

Sometimes the new-born lamb dies because it can not start the 
milk. See to this, and be sure. 

Give the boy or girl a lamb and see how well they will look 
after your sheep while caring for their own property. 

A lamb is a little thing. So is a cent. But the one goes to 
help make up the whole flock, and the other goes to make up the 
fortune of the millionaire. Care for the little things. 



Chapter XL 



IN PASTURE. 




Dont starve the sheep between hay and grass. 

|f Sheep are in pasture, in the 

Northern States, six to eight months 
in the year, and it is important to 
have good sheep pasture. Good 
cattle or horse pasture is seldom 
good for sheep. Clover, both red 
and alsike, blue-grass and timothy 
furnish the best for sheep. 

Grass should not be let to grow too high before 
pasturing ; sheep like short grass ; they want it sweet 
and fine. They need high, dry ground, and if the 
grass seems sparse and short it is better for the sheep; 
they do not like tall, coarse, rank grass. 

Give them a change of pasture every three or four 
weeks, if it is only between two fields. Monotony kills, 
and the same old pasture becomes tiresome and dis- 
tasteful to sheep ; it checks the growth of young stock, 
while the mature sheep grow thin. 

Every pasture should have one or more shade 
trees to protect the sheep from excessive heat and 
storm. Another essential is cool, fresh water, which 
should be within easy access of the sheep at all times ; 
water is as important in summer as in winter. 

To provide for lack of pasture due to dry weather 
in summer, have some rape, which can be used in 



6o 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK, 



connection with grass. For the lambs in the fall, 
rape is unequalled for green feed, but should always 
be used with grass. Have it adjoining the pasture, so 
that lambs can go to both at will. 

Sow the rape in the spring, some time in May ; 
the Dwarf Essex gives the best results ; three to four 
pounds to the acre is seed enough. Have the ground 



'"Zr-k-M 




mm 




- 


-fs.- --I 



PURE WATER 



A LI' 



le shade! and lots of grass! 

in fine condition, soft and mellow, sow broadcast, and 
cover with a weeder or light harrow. Let the rape 
grow to a height of twenty to twenty-four inches before 
pasturing; then turn in the lambs, or ewes and lambs, 
if the rape is ready before weaning time, let them eat 
it down, and then shut them off The rape will soon 
grow again, and be ready for another crop of feed. 
Another good method is to drill the rape in rows 
three feet apart with a beet or garden drill and culti- 
vate until the rape is large enough to feed off. This 
keeps out weeds, and cultivation makes the rape 
grow faster. When large enough to feed off, the 



IN PASTURE. 



61 




sheep will walk along the rows and not trample it. 
For late fall feed, sow rape in the corn, just after cul- 
tivating the last time ; it will not need covering. This 
furnishes plenty of feed, and makes the lambs growthy 
and fat. It is the best supplement to grass of which 
we have any knowledge. 

The successful fence shown in the accompanying 
sketch is in use on a large sheep and cattle farm; this 
fence was originally made of only the three barbed 
wires, with a ridge of earth banked 
up a foot high or more as a visible 
barrier. The sheep however €£\ 
crowded through between the two M 
lower wires. The addition of the two smooth, cheap 
wires, one on each side of the lowest barbed wire, 
successfully remedied the trouble. 

To make a stone wall sheep-tight use the im- 
proved method shown in the 
cut. Remove a few of the top 
stones where the stake is to 
stand and incline it across the 
open space as shown, having 
¥ the top of the stake come on the 
inside of the pasture wall. Replace the stones and nail 
boards along the upper ends of the stakes as shown. 
Sheep have no foothold for climbing over such a fence 
as this, and it is, moreover, very 
permanent. 

Have at least one good bell for 
every twenty sheep. Dogs are not 
as likely to trouble them. 

''Top-poling'' a wall is not a safe fence for sheep. 






62 HIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

They dislodge the poles, and even go over the poles, 
unless two in height are used. Wide boards are ex- 
pensive. Foot-wide wire poultry netting can be 
bought for a third of a cent per running foot, with dis- 
count on large lot. Stretch it along the wall as shown 
in the cut. It is better than boards, and costs about 
one-third as much. 

Where sheep occupy a pasture the spring can be 
covered with a barrel, as shown, the earth 
being banked up about the barrel to raise 
the water inside. Rocks will hold it 
firmly in place. The small opening shown 
will answer for calves, sheep and harm- 
less animals. If used for horned animals the opening 
must be larger. 

WEEDS. 

If the weeds get the start of you on a summer fal- 
low, or newly plowed ground, turn on the sheep, and 
they will eat them off, killing the weeds and feeding 
the sheep. For this purpose use mature sheep, either 
the breeding ewes after the lambs are weaned, or 
wethers ; lambs need better feed. Oftentimes rag- 
weeds and other noxious weeds grow up in the grow- 
ing grain, especially in oats, and after harvest need 
trimming off, to be prevented from going to seed. 
Here's where your flock of sheep come in. 

You want the fence corners of your grain field 
cleaned of grass and weeds, before sowing. That 
flock of ewes or wethers need just such a change for a 
few days. In fact, if you have short grass or weeds 
where you do not want them, and can let the sheep 
have access to them, your field is cleaned in short 



IN PASTURE. 



63 



order, at no expense, and you are sure of a good 
job. 

Then, perhaps you have some new ground, once 
chopped off, and young sprouts have grown up ; if 
they are small enough so a sheep can reach them, turn 
in a flock, and see how nicely and quickly they will 
clean up your field for you. In fact, if you have any 
kind of forage on upland (sheep do not take to marsh, 
or wet, swampy land) that you want trimmed out, 
turn in the sheep and the}' will do it for you. 



BLADES OF GRASS. 

Sow turnips for the sheep. 

Have good shade in hot weather. 

As a manure spreader the sheep beats any modern contrivance. 

Sheep keep a farm clean ; they eat small brush and trim off the 
weeds. 

Rape needs rich soil or liberal manuring, and good prepara- 
tory culture. 

When sheep are on grass, feed grain at night ; they won't eat 
it in the morning. 

Sheep need all the clean, 
cool water they want ; it is 
half their living in hot, dry 
weather. 

Sheep want a variety 
of feed ; no domestic animal 
relishes so much variety of 
feed and pasture. 

Sheep running with cows 
seem to look upon them as 
their protectors, and will run for security 
appear. 

Do not turn to grass all at once ; feed hay and grain, and let 
the sheep become accustomed to grass gradually. 




NOONTIME. 

to the cows if 



dogs 



64 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



A cold, soaking- rain will take off more flesh and growth in 
twenty-four hours than can be replaced in twenty-four days. 

Grass may be compared to milk, for it has precisely the same 
elements of nutrition, with about the same proportion of water. 

Sheep will not graze when it is hot ; keep them in the pasture 
all the time during the night, in summer, and look out for dogs. 

Some stockmen claim that four sheep may profitably be pas- 
tured with every cow and not materially injure the pasture for the 
cows. 

The man who allows his sheep to get their living by pawing in 
the frozen snow, ought to try it himself with a pair of thin shoes 
on. and see how he likes it. 

One of the things that count is to give the sheep a change. 
They soon get tired of a certain diet, quarters or pasture. Sheep 
will do better if changed to another pasture, though that other 
pasture be not quite so good. 

Do not feed hay over your sheep ; have a yard to turn them in 
when feeding hay or straw, and shut them out of the way when 
feeding; then you will keep the chaff and hayseed out of the 
wool, and save time in feeding. 

Timothy hay is not good food for sheep when suckling lambs 
or before the lambs are born. Clover is best. Clover will make 
twice the milk, and keep the sheep from getting constipated, 
which is the cause of stretches and abortion. Timothy hay will dry 
up the milk and cause Stretches. 

Thousands of calves and lambs are turned out to pasture in 
the spring and are not housed again until fall, no protection 
being afforded against cold rain storms and violent showers. This 
results in great suffering on the part of this young stcck.and a 

serious check to their growth often- 
times. Trees afford a slight shelter in 
case of a passing shower, but for a 
steady rain they are worse than no 
shelter. Protection ought to be given, 
and this can be accomplished at a tri- 
fling expense in the manner shown in 
the accompanying cut. Four or more 
stakes and one length of cross pieces are all the frame required. 
A sloping roof of rough boards, with one side and one end boarded 
with the same, affords protection from cold storms. 




Chapter XII. 



FEEDING. 




Good feed a?id good care are the best condition powders. 

Feeding is the first essential 
to good stock. Cleanliness is the 
first essential to good feeding, and 
with special force does this apply 
to sheep feeding. The feed must 
be clean and fresh, and the place 
where it is put must be likewise. 
When you feed grain to sheep, 
see that it is clean and free from 
dirt, must and filth. If mud and 
manure finds its way into the 
grain room, sw r eep it out, and if it should accidentally 
get mixed with some grain, do not try to make your 
sheep believe that dirt is grain, or that the grain is fit 
for them to eat ; they will not be convinced. You will 
lose just that much in the condition of your sheep. 

The same with your troughs, racks and water 
tubs. If manure and filth gets into the grain trough, 
see that it is not there when you put in the grain ; if 
you do not, you waste your grain, for the sheep will 
not eat grain when once tainted. Look well to the 
water tub ; sheep will not drink water that has been 
transformed into liquid manure. Clean out the water 
tubs often, and see that the water is always fresh 



t6 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

and clean. Too much importance of the necessity of 
cleanliness can not be impressed upon the farmer who 
would be a careful and successful shepherd. 

To be a good feeder, you must take care that you 
do not feed your flock more than they will eat. As 
many feed too much as too little. Feed your sheep 
only what they will eat, and have the racks and 
troughs empty when the sheep have finished eating, 
so that when the next meal time comes your sheep are 
hungry, and relish their feed. Overfeeding cuts both 
ways ; it wastes feed and damages the condition of 
the sheep. 

For breeding ewes, straw and cornstalks once a 
day, in the morning, are good, and at the same time, 
a feed of grain, two parts oats and one part corn, bulk, 
a bushel to sixty head. At night, feed all the hay, 
clover or mixed clover and timothy, that they will eat 
up clean. 

A sheep grower has a flock of lambs which must 
be handled and disposed of to the best advantage, ac- 
cording to the general and individual conditions. Or- 
dinarily, the average farmer should so breed his sheep 
that the ewe lambs shall be of such quality as to take 
the place of the old ewes, and become a part of the 
breeding flock. For growing lambs, oats and bran, 
equal parts in bulk, are the best grains. They form 
muscle and growth, not fat. For rough feed in win- 
ter, clover hay is the best, and is about the only feed 
for young growing stock. 

With the other half of the increase, viz., the rams 
or wethers (they should be the latter), there are 
several ways of handling. Some keep their wethers 



FEEDING. 



69 



until they are two, three or four years old, as they 
calculate they shear enough wool to give a good pro- 
fit for running, make a large increase in weight, and 
are more easily fattened on cheaper feeds. For this 




AROUND THE FEED TROUGHS. 



purpose, sheep of strong Merino blood should be 
used, in order to secure enough wool to make the 
system profitable. 

The majority, however, so handle their wether 
lambs as to dispose of them before or during the 
spring they come one year old. Some sell in the fall, 
immediately after weaning, to feeders who make a 
business of buying and feeding lambs and sheep. 



70 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Others grow their lambs and fatten them themselves, 
and under ordinary conditions this seems to us to be 
the best method. Keep the wether lambs, grow them 
on good fresh pasture, feed them oats and bran, be- 
fore and after weaning, and as soon as the pasture be- 
comes scanty in the fall, or the weather wet or 
severe, put them in the barn, and begin to feed prepa- 
ratory to marketing, whether it be for the Christmas 
market, mid-winter, or the late spring, say April or 
May. Which of these times is preferable depends 
upon the individual conditions of the grower and 
feeder, and upon the general conditions of the market 
and prospects for the season, determined by the num- 
ber of sheep being fed, the price of grain, and similar 
conditions upon which the market is contingent, but 
the time for marketing should be decided upon as 
soon as possible, and the sheep fed accordingly; for 
those for a late market should not be fed so heavily 
nor the same kind of feed as those to be prepared for 
the Christmas or mid-winter market. 

For fatting lambs for market, the kind and amount 
of feed depends upon the length of time of feeding. If 
for mid-winter market, i. e., January or February, 
lambs must have been fed grain on pasture and put 
into the barn on dry feed not later than November ist. 
While for the Christmas market, the lambs should be 
forced from the time they will eat grain until sold, 
using the following ration as near as possible for the 
three months next previous to marketing : 

For the first month on feed, oats and corn equal 
parts, one-half pound per head per day ; the second 
month, two parts corn and one part oats, three-quarters 



FEEDING, 



71 



pound per head per day ; for the third month, three 
parts corn and one part oats, one pound per head, and 
as much more as they will eat up clean. To keep the 
digestive organs in good shape, add to this feed five 
pounds of bran to a bushel of grain about once in 
three days. For coarse fodder, clover hay is the best. 
Bean pods, bright straw or good cornstalks, shredded, 
can be fed in the morning during the first part of the 
feeding period, especially if the weather is cold and 
the lambs' appetites are keen. 

If feeding for a late market, as last of April or May, 
feed one-half pound per head per day, corn and oats, 






m Wi 



m I WTiMTiIMP *- 






A LITTLE EXTRA FEED TO HELP OUT THE PASTURE. 

equal parts, until shearing or about two months before 
you intend to market. Shearing should be some time 
in February or fore part of March, depending on the 
weather and on the exact time intended for market- 
ing. If you want to feed for very late market there is 
no need to shear until about March, as you have that 
much more wool. After shearing, increase the feed 



72 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



to the same quantity as for early-fed lambs, in propor- 
tion to the time to be fed. 

Make all increases in feed gradual, and at all 
times see that the lambs eat up all the grain clean. 
During the last month on feed the lambs should have 
nearly all they will eat, and no coarse fodder, but 
good clover hay. 

The average farmer must feed his sheep such feed 
as he raises on the farm, and he should raise such feed as 
will be most profitable to feed sheep. At the same time, 
it is often necessary to buy some feed, especially Dran 
and oats , also sometimes various kinds of rough fodder. 
For rough fodder, bean pods make good sheep 
feed once a day, hay the other feed. Shredded corn 

fodder inside, or corn- 
stalks outside, make 
good roughage for morn- 
ing feed in winter. Good, 
bright straw makes a 
good alternate with the 
above feeds, but hay 
should always be fed at 
night. Grain should be 
given in the morning. 

In using grain, re- 
member corn is heat- 
ing and fattening. Bar- 
ley offers a partial sub- 
stitute for corn ; also 
cull beans. Oats and bran are growing, muscle-form- 
ing feeds, and operate to keep the digestive apparatus 
in good running order. 




FEEDING CORNSTALKS. 



FEEDING. 73 

Beets, either mangels or stock sugar beets, and 
turnips furnish succulent feed, and are especially use- 
ful for ewes with lambs ; in fact, no farmer should try 
to raise lambs without a few roots to feed at lambing 
time. 

To cut these roots in a shape so that sheep can 
eat them, have a good root cutter with knives which 
cut the roots into long, slim pieces, and make them 
just right for sheep to eat. They can be mixed with 
the grain, night and morning, or can be fed alone at 
noon. 

For young sheep, /. *?., lambs coming a year old, 
clover hay at least once a day is indispensable, while 
for grain, oats and bran at the rate of a half pound 
per head per day will keep the sheep in good, growing, 
thriving condition. Give them plenty of exercise and 
fresh air; pure, fresh water is also necessary. Especially 
important are all three of the latter, and can not be 
too strongly impressed on the mind of the shepherd. 

The value of salt for sheep was demonstrated by 
a recent feeding experiment of three months, in which 
sheep fed one-half ounce per head per day sheared 
one and three-quarters pounds more wool and 
weighed four and one-half pounds more than those fed 
no salt. 

Sheep should have salt kept by them all the time. 
Have a small box in the pen, placed eighteen inches 
above the ground, and always keep salt in it. Do not 
leave it empty half the time and full the other half ; 
too much salt at one time results in scouring and gen- 
eral loss to the sheep, and sometimes death. In sum- 
mer a very good way has been to salt twice a week, 



74 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



dropping it upon the ground, and sheep should always 
have access to cool, fresh water. Salt should never 
be given to sheep or any other animal unless they can 
secure all the water they want. 




KERNELS. 

Variety stimulates appetite. 

Breeding stock should not 
be fattened. 

Do not feed too much grain; 
the same holds true of all other 
feed. 

Grow clover and oats ; they 
are sheep feeds "par excel- 
lence." 

Feed regularly; sheep know 
when meal time comes as well 
as you do. 

A NICE BUNCH. Keep the f atting l am b S 

quiet; noise, if it disturbs the sheep, means loss. 

Do not grind feed for sheep ; they have teeth, and should do 
their own grinding. 

Watch your sheep ; see that they all eat, and that they eat up 
what you feed them. 

Sheep should have access to water at all times; like a person, 
they like to mix their food with water. 

Make your sheep eat up the entire feed; there is no need to 
waste half your feed ; that takes off the profits. 

A little brine on the straw twice a week will make it more pala- 
table to the sheep, and they will eat more of it. 

Sheep are as neat and particular as a person, and cleanliness 
is as important as the kind and amount of feed. 

Keep your water tubs clean; keep all manure, straw and the 
like out of the water ; if there is manure in it, pour it out and secure 
fresh. 

See that your grain troughs are clean before feeding grain; 
manure or dirt in the troughs means wasted grain, and waste 
means loss. 




- 
Q 
< 

< 



u 



Chapter XIII. 



BARN QUARTERS. 



However deep 
The snow may sweep 
The sheltered sheep 
Will cosey keep. 

In temperate or cold climates, barns are a neces- 
sity on the farm to preserve the feed and shelter the 
stock. For sheep, barn room depends on the number 




A MICHIGAN SHEEP BARN. 



to be cared for; if you have one hundred or more, and 
every farmer should have at least that many, you need 
a separate barn for them. However, for small farmers 
who can keep but few sheep, and must care for them 



78 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

in a barn with other stock or in a small shed, many 
of the general directions here given will also apply. 
Definite and arbitrary rules for building can not be 
given, because every barn must be so built as to con- 
form to the particular lay of the ground and the posi- 
tion of the other farm buildings. An illustration of a 
good sheep barn is here given. 

A sheep barn should be built on a slight elevation, 
with a south front, and the yard in front should slope 
in the same direction ; this slope carries away all 
water, and keeps both the yard and barn dry. 

The barn should not be more than twenty-eight 
feet wide, while the length depends on the amount of 
room wanted. The barn illustrated is sixty feet long 
and accommodates one hundred and twenty-five sheep, 
besides having a room twelve feet wide extending 
across one end, for grain, shearing, etc., while under 
this room is a root cellar twelve by twenty-eight 
feet, which opens into the grain room by means of a 
trap door at the north end. This cellar is entirely un- 
der ground, making it warm enough so that roots will 
not freeze in the coldest weather. It has stone walls 
on all sides, while the floor is of the best Portland 
cement. The roots are put into the cellar through a 
window at the south end. The root cutter is kept at 
the north end of the cellar. 

Twenty-eight feet is wide enough, for the barn can 
then be built with balloon frame and self-supporting 
roof, which leaves the haymow free from all obstruc- 
tion of any kind, and a horse fork can be run the whole 
length of the mow. The track is hung in the gable, and 
the hay is carried in through a door placed in one end of 



BARN QUARTERS. 



79 



the barn. Two chutes, four feet square, at opposite 
corners of the sheep apartment, open from the mow 
into a box the same size, and six feet high. These 
chutes make good ventilators in cold weather, keep- 
ing the air pure and fresh ; they can be closed if nec- 
essary by a trap door. Here hay is throwm down, and 
is ready for feeding without extra carrying or handling. 

Every sheep barn should be built with eighteen to 
twenty feet posts, so as to have enough hay room over 
the sheep to sup- 
ply all that can 
be kept in the 
barn through the 
winter. The grain 
room should be 
at one end, pre- 
ferably the east, 
and this should 
open into the 
shed, as well as 
out doors. Bins interior barn, showing oneof the pens 
for grain should be in one end, and the other should 
be used for mixing grain, for shearing, and a place in 
which to keep tools, drugs, wool table, and other 
necessary articles. It is important to have both hay and 
grain, and also roots, in the same barn as the sheep, 
as the conveniences save much time, labor and feed. 

Have the barn stand the long way east and west, 
with the shearing room on the east end. Plenty of 
windows, especially on the south side, is important ; 
an abundance of light keeps out dampness and dis- 
ease, and the air is more easily kept pure. Sheep 




8o 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



need light and sunshine. A basement barn does not 
make a good sheep barn ; it is too damp, too dark 
and too cold. 

In the barn illustrated, water is obtained through 
a hydrant connected with the tank and windmill, by 
which the sheep can be furnished all the fresh water 
they want, without extra work or trouble. The half 
of a kerosene barrel makes a good drinking recep- 
tacle. This is placed in the center of the barn, so that 
all sheep in the pen can drink from the one tub. The 
water is drawn from the hydrant while feeding hay. 

The floor of 
a sheep barn 
should be earth. 
The barn should 
be built on top of 
the ground, and 
if the soil is not 
dry and porous 
on top, gravel 
should be drawn 
in to form the 
floor ; except, of 
course, the grain room, which should be fitted with 
matched flooring. The doors should be on rollers, 
sliding back between the siding and the ceiling ; the 
upper part of the doors is glass, to give light and sun- 
shine when closed in the winter or spring. When 
open, a temporary sliding gate is used in place of the 
doors, to shut the sheep either way. The barn is 
ceiled on the inside with matched lumber, which 
makes it very warm when closed ; while the outside is 




ANOTHER SIDE OF THE SAME BARN. 



BARN QUARTERS. 



81 



block siding. The doors should not be shut, except 
in very cold weather, or in case of a driving storm, or 
for winter lambs or shorn sheep. There are two sets 
of double doors on the south side, and one set on the 
north ; in the winter it is generally best to keep the 
north doors closed to prevent any draught. 




SOUTHERN EXPOSURE OF SHEEP BARN, SHOWING YARD AND 
FEEDING TROUGHS. 

In connection with the barn you must have a yard, 
which should be on the south side of the barn. Here 
you should have the grain troughs, and should always 
turn your sheep into this yard when feeding hay. To 
save time, feed the grain in the troughs before turning 
the sheep into the yard, and let them eat the grain 
while you are feeding hay. Then if you have several 
Mocks to feed, you will not have to wait for them to eat. 

Also use the yard in which to feed stalks and 
straw, and what the sheep do not eat will make good 



82 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

bedding. In any case the yard should be bedded, so 
as to keep it dry in the spring or in wet weather. 
A wet, muddy yard is a sure breeder of sore feet ; 
while if kept bedded, all waste straw or stalks are 
converted into manure, and all droppings of the sheep 
are saved and put back on the land. 

The barn should be kept well bedded with straw, 
so as to preserve all the manure. This should be 
cleaned out of the barn once in six or eight weeks, 
and oftener if necessary. The barn should be kept 
clean, and the air pure at all times. In case it is nec- 
essary to keep closed and warm this is especially 
important. 

The strawstack should not be where the sheep 
can have access to it. They pull out the straw and fill 
their fleeces with dirt and chaff, which damages the 
value of the wool at least one-third. 



FRESH AIR. 

Have wide doorways and gates. 

Keep your feet and your sheep dry. 

Give vour sheep plenty of fresh air, and see that the shed is 
dry. 

Pure, fresh air and clean, dry sheds are essential to success in 
the sheep business. 

Sheep should not run with cattle or horses, in winter yards; 
there is too much danger of injury , and nothing gained by it. 

All sharp corners on doors, racks, troughs, or other places 
should be rounded off; they waste too much wool, and injure the 
sheep. 

Water does sheep no good, except " little and often" in the 
shape of drink. Outside doses make snuffles, coughs, consumption 
and loss. 




■PsF 




Chapter XIV. 



RACKS AND TROUGHS. 



A good sheepman is always a good neighbor , or bette' than he 
would have been without sheep. 

There are many different kinds of racks and 
troughs used for feeding sheep, while some use none 
at all. The latter is a mosv wasteful method, both as 
to feed and loss in the condition of stock. The racks 
described are those we are using, in preference to 
the many various patterns we have tried, and strongly 
recommend them for durability, practicability, ease in 
making, cheapness, and saving of feed. 

For hay racks, we use two designs, that of the first 
to be preferred for such use as permits of stationary 
racks. Have these racks around the outside of the 
pen ; then, if necessary, to accommodate what sheep 
you have in the barn, put extra racks across the pen ; 
the expense of them is small. 

The first pattern, as shown in the cut, can also be 
used for permanent partitions. The dimensions are 
as follows : the front of 
the rack is two boards, 
each twelve inches wide, 
nailed to a two-feet two 
by four scantling ; this 
two by four is bolted to 
the upper end of a two 
by four upright, thirty-eight inches long ; to this 




86 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK, 

upright, at a point eighteen inches below the bolt, 
nail a horizontal inch board eighteen inches long, on 
which to lay the bottom of the trough as shown ; this 
bottom must be eleven inches clear space ; the sides 
of this trough must be four inches clear space above 
the bottom ; the raised portion behind the front should 
be six inches wide ; the front should be fastened at 
such an angle as to leave four to five inches space be- 
tween the bottom of it and the front edge of the raised 
portion ; through this space the sheep pull the hay. 
and if any is left, it is in the trough, and not under 
their feet. The trough can be cleaned of all hay and 
used for grain if necessary. 

The other pattern is thus : for uprights use two by 
four scantling, fifty-two inches long ; for top board, 
have it eight inches wide, the bottom board twelve 

inches wide, while the 

space between the two 

I should be eight inches ; 




these sides can be any 
length desired, but twelve 
or fourteen feet are the 
best to handle ; the ends 
should be twenty-four inches long ; the uprights 
should extend four inches below the bottom of the 
bottom board. This is a handy portable rack, can 
be placed anywhere, and is especially good to move 
so as to make small spaces when catching and hand- 
ling sheep. 

For grain troughs, we use two patterns ; the wide 
trough is intended for more stationary use than the 
V-trough and is especially good in feeding roots ; also 



RACKS AND TROUGHS. 




for feeding grain to fat sheep, for they can not eat so 
fast, nor get dirt in the grain by jumping over the 
trough. 

The construction of the Y-trough is very simple, 
as follows : two boards, one inch thick, sixteen feet 
long, one seven inches wide, the other six inches, 
the edges nailed together ; for 
legs use two by four, twenty-four 
inches long, one mortised into the 
other at right angles, at a pom/ 
seven inches from the end, leav- 
ing a place in which the trough 
should fit exactly ; a V-shaped 
board nailed in each end, and the trough is complete. 
This is light, cheap, easily made, and handy to move 
from one place to another. 

The wide trough is a little heavier, and costs some 
more to build, but for the purpose that it serves is as 
important as the Y-trough. It is constructed thus : 
all lumber one inch thick, dressed ; bottom is a ten- 
inch board, sixteen feet long ; sides are four-inch 
boards, one inch longer at each end than the bottom ; 
the ends are thirty-two 
inches long, ten inches 
wide from the ground 
to the top of the side 
boards, from there ta- 
pering to a four-inch 

width at the top ; the top should be a four-inch piece 
directly over the center of the trough, leaving fifteen 
inches between the bottom and the top, mortised into 
the ends ; a piece the same as the upper part of the 




88 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



end boards should be put in the center of the trough 
to strengthen it. To keep it from tipping over, nail a 
board four inches wide edgewise to the bottom of each 
end ; this board should be twenty-four inches long. 

Sheep make the best use of grain when it is fed 
in its original whole dry condition. Masticating their 
food thoroughly, the finest weed seeds are totally 
fined and destroyed. Finely ground grain forms a 
sticky mass in the mouth and seems distasteful to the 
sheep. 




THE FIFTY-TWO POUNDS OF WOOL KIND. 






X 




Chapter XV. 



CARE AND HANDLING. 




Sheep need care 
nearly every day in the 
year ; yet many, in fact 
the majority of, farmers 
give them very little. 
They can live with less 
care and attention than 
any other kind of live stock, and no class of stock 
responds better and with greater returns than sheep 
when given special care, when all their humors are 
'ooked to and furnished. 

The main essentials are regularity in feeding and 
quietness in handling. E>o not scare them to death 
tvhen you go among them, nor yell at them when try- 
ing to drive them or go among them. 

When in a pen, keep to the outside and go slow, 
so as to give them time to move out of the way with- 
out tearing down the racks or hurting themselves. 

When you want to handle sheep for any purpose, 
^uch as cutting feet, tagging and the like, put them 
in a small place where there is no chance for them to 
run around. Be quiet, catch them out, and put in 
another place when you have finished your work on 
each sheep. Do not chase them, but have them where 
they can not get away in the first place, catch them 
when you get ready and do not scare them. It is easy 
and safe if you keep quiet and learn how to do it. 



92 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

To catch a sheep, grasp him by the hind leg, just 
above the gambrel joint, with the right hand, and pull 
the sheep back so that you can put the left arm under 
his neck. To throw down or set on its rump, let go 
the gambrel, grasp the flank firmly, and placing the 
knees against the side of the sheep, raise him off the 
ground and set down. In laying down pregnant ewes 
or very heavy sheep, instead of lifting by the flank, 
push the hind leg next to you off the ground and 
under the sheep, at the same time pushing the other 
side of the sheep with the other hand, the arm of 
which is under the sheep's neck. There is a knack 
in catching and throwing a sheep, which can only be 
acquired by practice. 

In caring for sheep, it should be so arranged that 
the sheep have all the exercise and fresh air they want. 
It is a common practice to keep sheep shut in one pen 
through the entire winter, not even having a place out 
doors in which to feed grain, but it is quite wrong. 
Sheep are well protected with a warm coat of wool, 
they do not suffer from any ordinary cold weather, 
and they like to be out in the air. Sheep kept in a 
close shed on foul manure soon become dull and 
languid, dainty about their feed, with little appetite 
and no relish for what they do eat. In such a condi- 
tion they will not thrive. When they exercise freely 
and stay in the open, fresh air, they always have a 
keen appetite for their feed, drink well, grow and 
thrive and prove profitable and easy to care for. 

Every sheep barn, shed or enclosure should have 
an open yard in connection with it, the larger the 
better, and into this the sheep should be allowed to 



CARE AND HANDLING. 93 

run at all times when the weather will permit. How- 
ever, in extreme cold, windy weather, or in storms, 
especially cold rains or snows, they should have good 
shelter, and care should be taken that they receive it. 
Cold rains in spring and fall are especially to be 
guarded against. 

See that the drinking water is always clean and 
fresh, that the salt box is filled, that your racks and 
troughs are clean, and that your sheep are all eating. 

The average farmer who keeps sheep must neces- 
sarily have different ages, and those that require 
various kinds of care, as the breeding ewes, the grow- 
ing stock, and that to be fitted for market. In hand- 
ling these sheep in the various stages of growth and 
development, it is absolutely necessary that they be 
kept in separate flocks, so that each may receive the 
proper care, and such feed as, . by the nature of the 
flock, is required. Young stock intended for breeders 
must not be fed fattening foods, nor breeding ewes 
given the same care as the growing lambs. 

The ewe lambs should be kept by themselves, fed 
in such a way as to promote growth, and given all the 
exercise they want. Too many farmers keep the ewe 
lambs with the breeding ewes, which is ruinous to the 
lambs, if the ewes are cared for as they should be. 
The ewes crowd the lambs away from the feed, the 
feed is not such as the lambs should have, and the re- 
sult is that the lambs are stunted and never make 
such sheep as should be put in a breeding flock. 

Wethers should also be kept in a separate flock. 
They can be given coarser feed, and do better apart 
trom other classes of sheep. 



94 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



In sorting your flocks, preparatory to going into 
winter quarters, it is well, if possible, to put the older 
ewes, or those which may be somewhat thin in condi- 
tion, into a separate flock, and give them better care 
and feed, and by spring they will be in good condition 
and ready to go with the rest of the flock. 

All sorting should be done either just before go- 
ing into winter quarters or in the spring before going 
to pasture. In winter, sheep should be kept in the 
same barn or shed, if possible. Changing of loca- 
tion and of water is always attended by a loss in the 
condition of the sheep, in becoming accustomed to 
the new location ; especially is this to be guarded 
against in feeding sheep or lambs for market. 

Trimming feet : During the winter, while sheep 
i ,4 are kept in the barn, their hoofs grow 

Vf§ too long, and if not trimmed the hoof 

^w^^^^^ turns over and lames 

jjMH the sheep, and in young 

^^^^^^^B sheep there is danger 

> ™ of the feet turning to 

one side, and producing crooked legs 
or ankles and impairing the value of 
the animal. When the feet become 
long, trim them with a hoof shear, 
like the one illustrated. Hold the 
sheep firmly and easily, so that it 
can not struggle. Cut off the hoof so 
that the foot will be left in its natural 
shape, so that the sheep can bear its F ^- »• 

weight on the whole foot ; do not cut off square, but 
on a slant, so that the heel and toe can both touch the 





CARE AND HANDLING. 95 

ground. Notice closely how the shear is held with 

reference to the foot. Hoof trimming should be done 

in the spring before turning to grass, 

when the feet are the longest. The 

manure and lack of grit on which to 

wear off the shell produce long feet ; 

wet weather and wet soil are also 

conducive to the growth of hoof. 

The proper way to hold the sheep 

while trimming front feet is shown 

in Fig. i, and the hind feet in Fig. 2. 

Tagging: The ewes, especially 
the breeding flock, should be thor- fig. 2. 

oughly tagged before breeding. By tagging is meant 
the shearing off of manure and wet, dirty wool which 
often adheres to the hind parts of the sheep. It is 
often necessary when feeding succulent foods which 
induce laxness of the bowels and scouring, and also 
when the wool on the hind parts becomes long and 
saturated with urine, on ewes. Besides in the fall, 
tagging is necessary in the summer, to prevent flies 
and maggots ; the sheep must be kept clean. The 
easiest and best way is to lay the sheep on its side, 
and shear off all dirty wool and taglocks, holding the 
sheep with its head placed over its side. Hold in an 
easy position, and firmly so that the animal can not 
struggle. Be careful not to strain ewes in lamb, by 
cramping, if it becomes necessary to tag them before 
lambing. 

Marking : Every sheepman should mark his 
sheep, to designate them from his neighbor's. The 
best way is a small metallic label in the ear, with the 



9 6 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



owner's name on one side and a series of numbers 
on the other. In this way the shepherd can easily 
keep a record of the lambs of each year, and their 
breeding. A common method is to use a thin mixture 
of Venetian red and linseed oil, dip into it a marker, 
wood or iron, which makes a distinctive mark, often 
the initials of the owner, and put on the side or back 
of the sheep ; the best place is on the rump, where it 
can easily be seen. Tar should never be used for this 
purpose, for it damages the wool, nor should lead 
paint be used ; it is as bad as tar. 




THE GREATEST WEED KILLER ON EARTH. 

A man starting in business requires certain articles 
with which to carry on his business. A farmer must 
have tools to till the soil ; so must he have tools and 
drugs to care for his sheep. Some essential articles 
which every farmer should always have for convenient 



CARE AND HANDLING. 97 

use are the following : — a pair of sheep shears, hoof 
shears, a sharp knife ; a bottle of castor oil, a quantity 
of pulverized blue vitriol, a bottle of gasoline, in sum- 
mer, a can of pine tar, a gallon of some fluid carbolic 
dip, a bottle of sweet spirits of niter. 

To Lift a Sheep : One Person : — Catch, take 
the right hind ]eg above the gambrel in the right hand, 
and put the left arm around the left shoulder of the 
sheep, thus bringing the left hand just behind and 
under the fore legs ; raise and carry where you wish. 
Two persons, A and B : — A should put one arm under 
and around the neck and the other arm under the 
sheep just behind the fore legs ; B should put one arm 
under the sheep just in front of the hind legs, and the 
other hand on the hips, to steady the sheep and keep 
from kicking : or if a market sheep, B might grasp 
the flanks ; another simple way is for A to stand on 
the right side and B on the left of the sheep, A puts 
his right hand under the sheep just ahead of the fore 
legs and grasps B's left hand, then A and B lock their 
left and right hands respectively under the sheep just 
ahead of the hind legs. Both methods are simple, 
easy and do not hurt the sheep, not even a pregnant 
ewe, if done properly. 



tags. 

Keep your sheep tagged. 

Wet weather induces sore ieet. 

Do not keep your sheep too close. 

Sheep must never be allowed to get wet in winter. 

Ticks on sheep make poor sheep, poor lambs and poor fleece. 

In hot. wet weather do not let the maggots eat up your sheep. 




98 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Look out for lame sheep ; the fouls is the forerunner of the 
foot-rot. 

Do not compel the sheep to drink from a muddy creek or a 
stagnant pool. 

See that your sheep have plenty 
of exercise ; it makes them strong 
and healthy. 

Keep your sheep's feet trimmed; 
in trimming be careful not to cut 
the toe vein. 

Mutton should be more plentiful 
than pork because it is better and 
more healthful. 

Do not catch a sheep by the scotch black faced ram. 
wool ; it is the same as grabbing a person by the hair. 

Growing stock should not be kept with breeding ewes or 
sheep fattening for market. 

Where does the poor, blue, tough mutton come from? There 
is a great lack of intelligence and foresight somewhere. 

After weaning, the ewes should be carefully watched, and if 
any have a large amount of milk, they should be milked. 

Warm showers will not hurt sheep, but long, cold rains do ; in 
early spring and late fall, sheep should be sheltered from these. 

Many times lambs can not be sold when they will bring the 
most, because the pasture is poor and they do not get fat enough. 

It does not make any difference how well bred an animal you 
have, nor how much it cost, if you do not feed and care for it you 
can not expect it to thrive and be profitable. 

Do not scare the life out of your sheep when you walk through 
the flock ; go slowly and quietly, and the sheep will become so 
accustomed to you that they will not notice you. 

A shepherd's crook is a stick with a crook at the end by which 
a man in charge of sheep can reach out 
and catch a sheep by the neck. The 



O 



stick may be six or eight feet long. 



Chapter XVI. 



DISEASES. 

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 

If sheep are given proper care and feed, and are 
not exposed to sudden changes, the liability of disease 
is materially reduced. Keep your sheep in good aver- 
age condition ; do not let them get poor, nor yet keep 
them fat. For the average -sheep that becomes sick, 
and you do not know how to doctor, the best way is 
to let nature take its course. Unless the symptoms 
are very evident and the remedies well known, doc- 
toring sheep is expensive and often unsatisfactory. 

In handling and treating sick animals, use com- 
mon sense. Do not try to make them eat, but let 
them be quiet. Do not begin to pour medicine down 
them the first time you see there is something wrong, 
but look to the cause and remove it, if it is in the feed 
or care. If the animal does not then return to feed, 
study closely the symptoms, and give such treatment 
as the latter seem to warrant. The common ailments 
of sheep are comparatively few, but severe cases of 
many of them are very fatal. 

In giving medicine to sheep, the easiest way to 
hold the sheep is to set it on its rump, placing the sheep 
between your legs and holding the head by placing 
the first two fingers of the left hand in the roof of the 
animal's mouth, thus leaving the right hand to hold 



102 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

the spoon or bottle. Except where the medicine is 
given clear, in one or two tablespoonfuls, the best 
method is to have a long, small-necked bottle in which 
to put the medicine, and put in the mouth, taking care 
to put the opening well to the back of the mouth so 
that the sheep can not hold the tongue over the open- 
ing. Give large doses with great care, pouring slowly 
to avoid choking. Be careful not to choke by pouring 
into the windpipe. In giving castor oil with a spoon, 
dip the spoon in water just before using. 

Keep sick animals by themselves, and do not dis- 
turb them. 

A sheep is not very sick that can chew its cud. 

For sheep which may be sick for several days, or 
recovering from sickness and do not yet eat hay or 
grain, some food is necessary, and for this nothing is 
superior to a gruel, made either of flaxseed meal or 
oatmeal. To make a flaxseed meal gruel, have the 
water boiling, pour the meal in gradually, stirring all 
the time, using enough meal to make it the consis- 
tency of a thin porridge ; let boil one minute, being 
careful not to let it burn. Give one-half to one pint 
at a time, by means of a long-necked bottle. Pour 
carefully •, slowly. 



INTERNAL DISEASES. 
Choking : Generally caused by too fast eating 
of oats or roots, which lodge in the gullet. Set the 
animal on its rump, stretch the neck and throw the 
head back, and pour a cupful of water down the 
throat. In more severe cases, use three or four table - 
spoonfuls of melted lard. If neither of these furnish 



DISEASES. I03 

relief, take a piece of small rubber hose, or a very 
small, pliable and smooth stick, push it carefully down 
the gullet, and dislodge the obstacle. Keep close to 
the lower side of the neck, so as not to disturb the 
windpipe. 

In passing hose to relieve choke, keep neck 
perfectly straight. Have animal held firmly by 
good assistants. Use great care to avoid wounding 
throat. 

Bloating : Caused by overeating of soft, green 
feed, such as young clover, alfalfa, rape, and the like. 
For slight cases, put all the pine tar possible on the 
nose and mouth ; also fasten a small stick in the 
mouth, like a bridle bit, to keep it open to allow the 
gas to escape. In more severe cases, give two tea- 
spoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda, dissolved in warm 
water. If relief does not follow, repeat in about ten 
minutes. Holding salt pork in the mouth will often 
relieve. In all of these cases, keep the animal in 
motion, so as to facilitate the escape of gas. If none 
of these remedies act and the animal becomes worse, 
tapping must be resorted to. This is done by making 
a small insertion with a sharp knife, at a point on the 
left side equidistant from the end of the last short rib 
and the backbone, on the paunch. Better than a 
knife is a trocar with shield. This is a sharp blade in 
a tube, and when the puncture is made the shield is 
left in the opening, allowing the gas to escape. This 
shield should be removed as soon as the animal is out 
of danger. Sheep trocar and canula can be secured 
from Jacob J. Teufel & Bro., 114 South Tenth street, 
Philadelphia, or other veterinary instrument makers. 



104 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Foundering : Generally caused by overeating ; 
for instance, securing access to grain bin accident- 
ally, or being kept from feed twenty-four hours or 
longer, and then allowed to eat as much as they 
please. As soon as found, give one-half teacupful 
of castor oil and keep well exercised. If bloating 
sets in, relieve by ordinary methods. Foundering is 
very dangerous, and death often results, in spite of 
any remedy. 

Constipation : In lambs, often occurs when 
one to seven days old. Relieve by an injection, with 
a small syringe, of lukewarm soapsuds into the rec- 
tum. Another good injection is glycerine, one ounce 
to warm water one pint. In older sheep, sometimes 
due to heavy feeding, especially of corn and dry feed 
without any laxative foods ; also due to lack of exer- 
cise. Two to four tablespoonfuls of castor oil will 
relieve ; if no passage of bowels in twenty-four hours, 
repeat and increase the dose by one-half. 

Scouring : Induced by a sudden change from 
dry to green feed ; by overeating of green feed, such 
as rape, clover, alfalfa, and the like ; also of grain. In 
mild cases, a change to dry feed will cause scouring 
to stop in a day or so, without the use of any drug. 
In very severe cases, where the sheep refuses to eat, 
and passage of dung is slimy and attended with strain- 
ing, give two tablespoonfuls of castor oil to carry off 
the cause of the irritation ; if this does not check the 
passage give a tablespoonful of castor oil with thirty 
drops of laudanum, twice daily, in a little gruel. When 
checked, continue to give flaxseed gruel, until the 
sheep returns to its regular ration. 



DISEASES. 105 

Snuffles: Similar to a cold in persons; catarrh; 
discharge at the nose. Put fresh pine tar in the 
mouth and on the nose. In severe cases steam the 
sheep with tar, by putting some live coals in a pan, 
pouring tar on them, and holding his head over the 
pan, placing a blanket over his head to keep the 
fumes from escaping, and forcing the sheep to inhale 
them. 

Urinary Troubles : Rams are sometimes 
troubled to make water ; generally due to heavy feed- 
ing and close confinement ; it is also claimed that 
heavy feeding of roots will cause this trouble. Rams 
stand apart from the flock, do not eat, draw up their 
hind parts, and strain in an attempt to make water. 
To relieve, give one-half teaspoonful sweet spirits of 
niter, in a little water, every two hours until relieved. 

Worms : The deadly stomach worm (strongylus 
contortus) is the worst foe of the eastern sheep grower. 
It is a small worm about three-quarters of an inch 
long, found in the fourth stomach. They are taken in 
by lambs running on old pasture, especially blue-grass, 
and are induced by wet weather and wet soil ; are 
generally noticeable during July and August. Symp- 
toms : lambs lag behind when driving the flock, look 
thin and poor, act weak, skin is very pale and blood- 
less ; eyes pale, sunken and lifeless ; sometimes scour- 
ing occurs a day or two before death ; death usually 
in four to ten days. Preventive : keep the lambs from 
old pastures ; a fresh cut or newly seeded clover 
meadow makes the best pasture ; rape is also good. 
Feed them some grain and dry feed, and keep some 
of the following mixture in the salt box all the time, 



I06 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

viz.: one bushel salt, one pound gentian, one pound 
powdered copperas, one pint turpentine, mixed thor- 
oughly. Some of the prepared medicated salts are 
just as cheap and effective as this mixture. Tobacco 
dust and tobacco leaves fed with the salt are also 
much used in some sections and prove very effective 
as a preventive. Cure : if not too bad when noticed, 
they can often be cured, but they are seldom as 
growthy as if not affected. Shut the lambs from all 
feed for twelve to eighteen hours ; catch the lamb, set 
him on his rump, holding so that he can not struggle, 
and give a drench of gasoline, one tablespoonful, in 
four ounces (one-third to one-half teacupful) of milk ; 
repeat the two succeeding mornings, and if no im- 
provement, repeat the series in seven to ten days. 
Follow directions carefully. 



DISEASES EXTERNAL. 

Maggots : Caused by green flies, induced by 
hot, damp weather, and dirty wool ; found on the 
hind part of sheep, and on rams around the horns, 
where wool is damp and dirty. Also around castra- 
tion and docking wounds, which require watching for 
this trouble. Trim off the wool on place affected, and 
throw off the maggots ; put on gasoline to kill the 
maggots. Air-slacked lime will dry up the wet wool, 
and drive the maggots and flies away. Turpentine 
and kerosene are also used, but both take off the 



DISEASES. I07 

wool, if used in considerable amounts. Apply the 
above remedies for maggots with brush or small oil can. 

Fouls, or Sore Feet : Sheep are often lame, 
especially when the ground is wet ; earth or manure 
lodges between the toes, continual rubbing induces 
soreness, the foot begins to suppurate, and your sheep 
is lame ; the foot looks sore between the toes and is 
warm. Pare away all shell of hoof around the sore 
part, being sure to expose to the air all affected parts: 
after thoroughly paring, put on with a small swab a 
solution of blue vitriol and strong vinegar, mixed to 
the consistency of a thin paste. Keep sheep with fouls 
away from wet pastures or stagnant water, and keep 
feet dry and clean as possible. 

If lame sheep are not doctored, the fouls soon 
spread to all parts of the foot, and foot-rot results. 
This becomes contagious, and all sheep remaining 
where are those with foot-rot will become lame. 
There is no need of foot-rot if the shepherd takes 
care of his sheep. Treat this the same as the fouls, 
being sure to pare away all shell and exposing the 
diseased parts. For a stronger solution than blue 
vitriol, use blue vitriol, butyr of antimony, and muriatic 
acid, equal parts by weight. Use with care. Paring 
is the principal thing ; be careful not to cut the toe 
vein. Another excellent remedy for foul feet is one 
ounce chloride of zinc to one pint of water. Apply 
enough to wet foul parts once daily after cleaning 
foot with dry cloth. 

Ticks : Ticks to sheep are as lice to hens ; they 
take the life and blood from the sheep. To kill them, 
dip your sheep in some proprietary dip, carbolic pre- 



108 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

ferred, being careful to follow directions. In winter, 
ticks often become a serious annoyance to sheep, 
especially lambs being fed for market, for sheep can 
not thrive and fatten when pestered by ticks ; at such 
times dipping is impossible, but we have found it a 
very good method to put the sheep in a warm barn 
and shear them. 

Do not winter ticks; inspect the flock well, and 
if ticks are found even in small numbers, begin at 
once to combat them. Cold weather and long wool 
makes treatment difficult and expensive. 

Scab : Is a strictly contagious disease of the skin, 
caused by a small mite which bites the skin, causes 
irritation to the sheep; biting and rubbing ensue, the 
wool is pulled out and sheds off, a crust is formed 
over the sore, the mites increase and spread on the 
edges of the sore into the unaffected parts of the skin. 
It generally appears on the back, rump or sides of the 
sheep, and is first indicated by rubbing and pulling of 
the wool. The disease is very contagious, common to 
large flocks and bands, especially on the western 
range. Cure : use some good proprietary dip, follow 
directions to the letter, dip your sheep thoroughly 
twice, the second dipping from six to ten days after 
the first, not sooner nor later than these limits. Dis- 
infect all pens thoroughly and keep sheep from the 
old pastures at least two months. Scab is not very 
common to eastern sheep owners. Inspect all new- 
animals at once for scab, as it is often introduced by 
purchasing stock ewes or rams. 

Sore Eves : Caused by too much wool over the 
eyes, and the eyelid rolling into the eye ; also by get- 



DISEASES. I09 

ting something into the eye. Shear the wool away 
from the eye, and tie the cap of wool up off from the 
eyes, if necessary ; if there is a film over the eye, 
better apply a few drops of a solution of ten grains of 
boric acid to the ounce of water, put in a pinch of 
powdered burnt alum. 

Sore Teats : The teats on ewes with lambs 
sometimes become sore and tender, so that the 
lamb can not suck. Rub twice a day with salted 
butter. 

Caked Udder : Sometimes caused by weaning 
and not milking after the lamb is taken away. Gen- 
erally occurs in heavy milkers ; also occurs when 
lamb is still sucking, in one side of the bag at first. It 
is accompanied by stiffness in the hind quarters, the 
bag is hard, and in the first stages a thin, watery-like 
fluid can be drawn from the teat. Rub well and care- 
fully, using camphorated sweet oil ; the principal thing 
is the rubbing ; try to soften the bag and keep the 
teat open. Many times the ewe will lose the use of 
that side of her bag entirely. If she does, send her to 
market. Where gait is stiff and udder caked, give the 
ewe one dram salicylate of soda three times daily for 
three or four days. 

Casting Withers : Thrusting out of the womb. 
It should be washed in a pint of warm water, in which 
has been dissolved a teaspoonful of powdered alum, 
and the womb replaced, and a stitch taken in the 
upper part of the opening of the vagina. The best 
way to cure such ewes is to market them or kill at once 
if they continue to give trouble in this respect. After 
replacing the womb, keep hind parts of animal quite 



no 



BIGGLE SHEEP 



•OK, 



high by standing in narrow stall made for the purpose, 
with floor made high behind. 

Goiter : Lumps in the throat. Common to 
lambs when born ; also in young sheep during the 
first winter. Some think the latter is caused by high 
feeding. Apply tincture of iodine with a swab, rub- 
bing on enough to color well the affected portion. Two 
or three applications, two to four days apart, should 
remove the worst case of goiter. 

Castrating : Hold as for docking. Cut off a 
good sized portion of the end of the sac with a sharp 
knife, push back the sack from the testicles, grasp 
the latter singly, with right hand, and grasp narrow or 
upper portion of sac firmly with left hand, and draw 
out until the cord breaks. Do not cut the cord, but 
break it. When docking and castrating at the same 
time, castrate first, then dock, and release the lamb. 
The whole operation should not take over one to two 
minutes. 




A CHAMPION LINCOLN WETHER. 



Chapter XVII, 



AGE. 




The age of a sheep is deter- 
mined by the size of the front 
teeth, or incisors, as they are tech- 
nically known, until the animal is 
four years old. After that the age 
is determined by the general 
appearance. 

Lambs have temporary incisors, 
all tekth small and which are short, small and nar- 
same size in a lamb. rQw . p ermanen t incisors come as 

the sheep matures. The first pair of the latter appear 
in the center of the set at about fifteen to eighteen 
months of age ; the next pair, one on each side of 
the yearling teeth, at twenty- 
one to twenty-four months ; ^# 
the third pair at thirty to 
thirty-three months, and the 
fourth and last pair at about 
thirty - eight t o fort}' - two 
months. Many sheep have 
a full mouth at three years 
old. 

Old sheep should not be kept. Cull your flock 
closely each year, marketing all ewes which are 
barren or that have broken mouths — that is, some oi 




YEARLING TEETH, TWO 
MIDDLE LARGER THAN OTHERS. 



114 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

the front teeth broken. Keep the ewe lambs and sell 
the old ewes, always keeping young, strong ewes in 
the breeding flock ; they raise more wool and better 
lambs, on less feed. 

The length of a sheep's life should be limited by 
its usefulness. Some sheep are old and useless at five 
years old, and others are as profitable at eight or nine 
years as at three. But any sheep which has a broken 
mouth should go to market as soon as it can be put 
in salable condition. It is safe to say, however, that 
under ordinary conditions the ewes of the average 
farmer are worn out at six years old, although many 
are good at seven or eight 3 but these old ewes want 
too much extra feed and care to make it profitable to 
bother with them. 




TWO YEAR OLD TKETH. 



Chapter XVIII. 



PETS. 




" Mary had a little lamb." 

Some lamb may have lost its 
mother, or there may be some twin 
that the ewe can not raise ; let the 
boy, or the girl, have him to feed, 
) and give him the lamb for his work. 
It gives the child an interest in his 
work, teaches him industry and to handle sheep. 

Help him during the first two weeks. Do not 
overfeed the lamb. A little cow's milk, a few tea- 
spoonfuls at a feed, lukewarm, not cold, fed from a 
bottle with a rubber nipple, teaches the lamb to find 
his feed. Feed him often, every three hours during 
the day for the first week, the first thing in the morn- 
ing and the last thing at night, before going to bed. 

Gradually increase the amount, and after the lamb 
is two weeks old the child will know how to feed 
him. The main thing is care and regularity. Feed 
milk from the same cow. Feed often and regularly. 
Do not feed too much ; it is sure death. More pets 
are killed by overfeeding than any other way. Be 
careful that the bottle is kept clean and sweet ; rinse 
with cold water immediately after using, and scald with 
boiling water once a day. The lamb will not eat when 
the bottle is sour. 



116 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



Have the boy raise the lamb, and when the lamb 

is sold let the boy have the money. He will want to 

raise more another year ; soon he can care for the 
flock, and by the time he is old enough 
he will be a good shepherd. 

The shepherd dog, or Scotch col- 
lie, is the principal herder, when 
sheep must be herded as on the wes- 
tern plains, but in the East the average 
farmer has little work for a dog. The 
sheep farmer would be better without 
dogs ; dogs in the East are quite as 

much a menace to the sheep industry as are the 

coyotes of the West. 

Good sheep dogs need work, and that all the 

time, and there is not enough of it for them on a farm. 

There is a place for everything, but a small sheep farm 

has no special need of a dog. 




A FAMOUS 
SHEEP DOG. 




HIS FAVORITE PETS. 



Chapter XIX. 



WOOL. 




Conundrum: Why is a sheep like a government bond? Be- 
cause you can take off a coupon twice a year and the bond is good 
as new. 

Wool is the yearly income of 
your sheep, which is sure, and 
grows with little care and expense. 
It is practically profit, so that the 
more your sheep grow and the better 
condition you have it in, the more 
money you make. 
A \*s> / Shearing 

wW ™ should be 
in April, in the northern 
States, generally in the last 
half of the month, depend- 
ing on the weather. Do not 
shear when it is extremely wool table. 

cold, nor yet wait until it is so warm that the fleece 
^^JBtej^Ljr becomes a burden ; in all 

J- -Jp^H^jHT cases, sheep should be shorn 
pWHMl^^ before turning out to grass. 

I ' J The majority of sheep 

J | owners hire their shearing 

done by professional shear- 
ers, and to those who pursue 
Have enough shearers to keep 




SHOWING HOW TOP OF TABLE 
RAISES 

this method a few words. 



one man busy doing up the wool. Have a clean floor 



n8 



BTGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 




on which to shear, and have a pen for the sheep 

opening off from it. Have 
one man to wait on the 
shearers, keep the wool out 
of the way and keep the 
floor clean. Have a table, 
on which to do up the wool, 

FLEECE READY FOR TYING. with shoOl Side Ollt. Use 

wool twine, but never sisal or manilla binding twine. 

Tie up in a square bundle, and put in nothing but 

wool. Keep out all manure, sweat-locks and dirt of 

every kind ; also all wet tags. As to dry tags and 

skirts of the fleece, put them 

inside the fleece and tie up. 

Have a clean place to put 

your wool, some room to 

which rats or mice have no 

access, nor where dirt nor 

dust can accumulate. 

To tie up the wool, use bundle ready for tying. 

two strings on one side and three on the other. (See 

cut of table. ) After removing the fleece from the 

table, tie another string around the center of the 

fleece. For convenience in handling, leave the ends of 

the outside strings of the three 
long enough to tie together, 
forming a loop, with which 
you can handle the fleece 
without tearing to pieces. 
The figures i to 12 show 
ready for market. the consecutive positions 

taken in shearing a sheep. There are many variations 




- * •* . <« 




WOOL. 



II 9 




FIGURE I. 



that are permissible, according to the individual taste 
of the shearer. We prefer to 
trim the sheep before shearing 
the fleece, that is, shear the legs, 
belly and crotch before shearing 
the body. This leaves the tags 
and skirts under the fleece, in 
taking up for placing on the 
table, the sheep is held more 
easily, and sits quieter than for 
trimming after the fleece is off. 

After trimming, an opening is made up the under 
side of the neck, shearing from 
the left side of the sheep toward 
the right. Having come up the 
neck, shear off the cap and 
around the face. This done, 
shear around the top and about 
half way down the right side of 
the neck. When down to the 
left shoulder, pull the sheep over 
your left knee, and shear down 
the side, going to the backbone. 
a smooth job, do not shear beyond the backbone, and 
do not shear lengthwise of the 
sheep. Having shorn the left side, 
leaving the sheep where he sits, 
pull him over so you can shear the 
other side, assuming a position cor- 
responding to that used in shear- 
figure 3. ing the first side. In shearing, 

pull the hide toward you with the left hand, and do not 




FIGURE 2. 



If you want to do 




120 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 




4- 



try to pull the wool. Never mind the wool, but keep 
the hide stretched smooth and 
taut, so that the shear can easily 
go into the wool. 

Study carefully the illustra- 
tions, noting each position, 
both of the sheep and the 
shearer. The principal thing in 
learning to shear is keeping the 
sheep in position that is easy and 
comfortable for both sheep and 
shearer. 

Do not try to take too big clips 
with the shears, bat cut with the 
points, especially when first learning. 
There is also much in keeping the 
shears sharp ; dull shears will not do 
good work. 

Shearing is something that can 
be learned only by practice, but be- 
ginners may be able to get some 
pointers from this description. 

Marketing : 
age sheep owner and farmer, the 
best method of disposing of his 
wool is to sell to tne local dealer, 
of which there are generally sev- 
eral in every locality. Have your 
woolin°:ood, clean condition, well 
tied up, in a clean, light place, 
figure 6. so that the buyer can see with- 

out pulling over the whole clip. 





FIGURE 5. 



For the aver- 



WOOL, 



121 




Do not put all the bad fleeces in the bottom, but 
just as they come off the sheep. 
Do not let the buyer pull your 
fleeces to pieces, nor tear the whole 
clip so that it looks ragged. 

Keep yourself posted as to the 
value of your wool, by reading the 
newspaper and reports of the mar- 
figure 7. kets, so that you 

may be able to obtain what it is 
really w r orth. Too many farmers 
who raise sheep do not know what 
their products are worth after they 
raise them, because they do not read 
the papers and learn what others 
are doing and the condition of the 
market. 

The time to sell wool is ordinar- 
ily in the spring, soon after shearing. figure 8. 
Wool is an article easily stored, and many fall into 
the habit of holding their wool 
for a higher price than it is 
worth in the spring, thinking to 
secure a profit by holding, be- 
cause others sell. In the long 
run, this is poor policy and un- 
profitable ; when your product 
is ready for market it is gener- 
ally best to sell. In holding 
figure 9. wool there is shrinkage, risk of 

holding, and other expenses which, for the aver- 
age farmer, more than offset the chance of a rise 





122 



BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 



in price. 




So that under ordinary conditions, it is 
well to sell when the dealer 
wants to buy, and be careful 
that you get the market price. 
Pelts : If from any cause 
you have a sheep pelt, as soon 
as taken from the carcass, stretch 
and lay 
in some 
flesh side 



FIGURE 10. 

clean place 
Take wood ashes 



dry 

up. ._ _»_, 

(sifted are best), pour on 
hot water enough to make 
a good 





FIGl'RE II 



paste, 

mix thoroughly, and put on the 



FIGl'RE I 



pelt. Spread 
the flesh side 
then p u t 
one side 
of the pelt 
on the other, bringing the 
flesh sides together, with lye 
between. In two to six hours 
the wool will pull from the 
pelt easily ; save the wool, and 
sell it with your next clip. 



evenly 

of the 




FIGURE 13. 



Chapter XX. 



SLAUGHTERING. 




Cleanliness is worth dollars and cents. 

The style in which the lamb is 
to be dressed depends upon the 
market to which it is to be sent, 
and even in the same market the 
fashion changes. 

The shepherd who can dress 
his lambs neat and make them 
Shropshire wether, attractive has a great advantage 
over him who has to depend upon a practical butcher. 
While slaughtering is an art and can be carried 
to a high state of perfection, and it is hard to learn the 
details from any written article, still, with a ready 
hand and by careful and constant study of the market, 
the hints herein given ought to enable the average 
shepherd to dress a lamb so that it will be favorably 
received by the most fastidious customer. 

The lambs should be inspected the day before 
they are to be killed, weighed, and those ready for 
slaughter marked, so as not to disturb them unduly 
when they are to be caught and taken to the slaughter 
house. If taken out of hearing of the mothers from 
six to ten hours before they are to be killed, and put 
in a rather close, dark pen, the stomach and entrails 
will be more easily removed. 




124 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

To kill a lamb, a trough (see Figure) should be 
made something like a sawbuck, with boards on 
rms inside of each pair of tegs 
above where they cross, so as 
to hold the lamb in any posi- 
tion in which it is laid. It should 
then have its legs all tied to- 
gether and be laid on left side 
with head extending beyond the end of trough. 

By placing one hand on back of neck and other 
under the jaw, by a quick motion its neck can be 
broken. This renders the lamb unconscious and ends 
its sufferings. 

It should then be stuck with a sharp knife just 
back of the ear, being sure to sever both jugular 
veins. Be sure to cut clean back to the vertebra, and 
as sure not to sever the gullet, as this would permit 
the contents of the stomach to escape and give a bad 
appearance and flavor to the meat. 

11 Pithing the lamb " (breaking its neck) will cause 
it to bleed more completely than if stuck before doing 
this. 

Formerly New York market wanted all lambs 
" hog dressed," with head and feet cut off, but 
fashion changes. Now the feet and head are to be 
left on, and only a portion of the belly skinned. To 
do this, when the lamb is dead lay it on its back in 
the killing trough, rip the skin open from brisket back 
to a point just between the hind legs, and draw skin 
back a few inches on each side. Cut through the 
brisket, or breast bone, well down to neck. With the 
lamb this can be done with a heavy knife. 



SLAUGHTERING. 1 25 

Now tie the hind feet together and hang upon a 
firm hook. Now split down the belly, being careful 
not to puncture the entrails. Cut the skin about the 
anus and carefully pull it down and remove the large 
intestine with the entrails. Take out with them the 
gullet clear down to the mouth. 

The caul, the web of fat over the entrails, should 
be taken off and put into warm water or into a pocket 
made between skin and side of belly. Now insert the 
back-sets. These are made of any free splitting wood 
from twelve to fifteen inches long, one inch thick and 
both ends sharpened, the length depending upon size 
of lamb. To insert these turn the flesh of one side 
of belly back and stick one end of back-set through 
it, bring it across the back sharp, so that when both 
are in they shall cross on the back, and insert the 
other end in flesh same as the first end. Then put 
the other one in same way, only so as to have 
them cross on back and have ends three inches 
apart. Now take the caul while it is warm and 
put it on, using skewers to hold it in place until 
cold. Cut a small hole in the caul in proper place 
on each side, and having loosened up the kidneys 
from the back pull each one through the hole in caul, 
and if necessary to make it stay there skewer until 
cold. 

All edges of the skin should be kept turned back 
so the wool does not come in contact with the exposed 
flesh, as it is liable to make it taste if it does. 

For New York market merely wrap a piece of 
white muslin over all exposed parts, and then sew 
the lamb up in a piece of burlap. 



126 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

The object of leaving the entire skin on the car- 
cass is that it carries much nicer, and when the skin 
is removed in the market the lamb shows very much 
brighter than when sent dressed. 

For other markets, Boston especially, lambs need 
to be dressed very much like old sheep, or rather 
undressed, for the entire skin must be taken off. To 
do this neatly and expeditiously requires more skill and 
practice than the New York way. 

After killing the lamb or sheep, as described, lay 
the carcass on its back in the killing trough and it will 
be ready for "legging." "Legging" is done by 
taking a leg in hand and pinching up the skin about 
half way down from foot to knee or gambrel joint, and 
with the knife cutting a narrow strip from the point 
down to foot and cutting off the foot. Do this to each 
foot, then take a fore leg between the knees and open 
the skin from the point where cut down, to the center 
of neck and to center of lower jaw. In opening the skin, 
keep knife clean by dipping often in clean water and 
wiping on clean cloth, and be careful not to cut into 
meat. Let the knife go down sideways. After the 
skin is opened and each side is started a little with the 
knife, it can be pounded off with knife handle or piece 
of clean cloth held in hand. 

Treat other fore leg in same manner. Then take 
hind leg and open skin down to the middle of belly 
and down the belly to the point where incisions of fore 
legs come together, also to the tail. Skin the hind 
legs down to gambrel joints. After this the animal 
must be "wizzled." "Wizzling" consists in making 
incision in the neck from breast bone to jaw and tak- 



SLAUGHTERING. 127 

ing out the esophagus or tube through which the food 
passes to stomach, tying it, so matter from the stomach 
can not escape to soil the meat. The less of the ani- 
mal skinned before hanging up the better, and care 
should be used to prevent the wool coming in contact 
with the meat, as it imparts a woolly flavor that is very 
objectionable. 

The animal is now ready to hang up. To do this, 
don't use the huge gambrel, but tie the hind legs with 
a strong cord through the gambrel tendons. The skin 
should now be removed from the body, and can best 
be done, in all parts not fastened as with a ligament, 
by pounding, or with a clean cloth over the hand. 

A clean cloth should always be at hand and every 
drop of blood removed as soon as it shows so as to 
avoid the necessity of washing. 

When the skin is removed and the head cut off, 
the animal will be ready for "gutting." In "gutting," 
first split down the belly from tail to breast bone, be- 
ing careful not to cut the entrails. Now divide or 
split the hams apart, cut about the anus and remove 
the entrails entire, including the gullet or food pipe. 

Now cut through the brisket or breast bone with 
a heavy knife, saw, axe, or cleaver. 

The insides removed, the market to which it is 
going will determine the style in which it is to be fin- 
ished. Sheep are usually plain dressed for any 
market, but New York calls for them with two back- 
sets, while Boston only takes One on sheep or lambs. 
Sheep usually have the "haslets" removed, while 
lambs have them left in until hot weather makes a 
liability of their spoiling. "Haslets" are the lungs, 



128 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

liver and heart, and when removed they are usually 
wrapped up and sent along with the carcass. 

When full dressing sheep or lambs, the caul is 
removed and placed inside the skin to be kept warm, 
and when all is completed to this point, the kidneys 
are loosened from the back, the caul placed on the 
body with suitable holes cut in it and the kidneys 
pulled through. If necessary to fasten the caul upon 
the carcass use skewers, which should be taken out 
when it is cold and fixed in its place. 

It is very important that all drainings of the veins 
be wiped off as soon as they are seen. 

When shipping (i full-dressed ; ' lambs to Boston 
market they should first be wrapped in clean, white 
muslin or cheese cloth and be packed two in a crate. 
This is to insure their arrival in prime condition, with 
caul and kidneys undisturbed. 

In shipping "hog-dressed" lambs to the market 
taking such, they should be first wrapped, all exposed 
parts, in white cloth and the whole enclosed in burlap 
as a guarantee against mutilation and to insure clean- 
liness in transit. 



FOOT NOTES. 

Have two back-sets made for each lamb to be killed before you 
begin. 

Always have towels and bucket of water handy. Keep your 
hands and your knife clean. 

Hay, chaff or other dirt should on no account be permitted to 
fall on tbe carcass before or after it is dressed. 

Slaughter in a well-lighted building; never in the open air. 
In the open air the flesh becomes dark or "wind colored," as 
dealers term it. 






SLAUGHTERING. 



I29 



A good killing knife has a blade about six inches long, one 
inch wide, and rather narrower at point than at hilt. It should be 
of good material and sharp. 

Washing the meat injures its appearance and keeping quality. 
Wipe it with a dry cloth or with a cloth wrung as dry as possible 
when necessary to remove any stains. 

If you have the opportunity, watch a butcher or some one who 
has had experience operate before trying it yourself. Then read 
this chapter over, and experience will do the rest for you. 

Make a gallows of strong pole or four by four scantling, raised 
six feet from floor, with a meat hook put in every two and a half 
feet. Let the carcasses hang on this until cool and flesh becomes 
firm. 







JL .. '. 1 ■ 1 ■ m 




SAMPLES OF AMERICAN MERINO WOOL. 



Chapter XXL 



HOTHOUSE LAMBS. 



With the right market, the right kind of man and 
right kind of environments, no other branch of the 
sheep industry will pay anything like the profit of 
winter lamb raising. But for any one to attempt the 
business who has not the proper facilities, or who is 
not willing to devote his most careful and constant at- 
tention to all the details, there is but one end— failure. 

The folds are of great importance. For the sheep 
to do their best they must have light, dry, warm, well- 
ventilated folds and so arranged that the shepherd can 
give the needed care with the fewest st^ps. 

Next in importance to the man and the folds is the 
selection of the ewes. Such as will produce lambs at 
any time and that will make them ripe and fat are not 
easy to find. None of the pure breeds, even the Dor- 
set, are as good as those cross-bred. What the market 
demands is a medium sized but fat lamb. While the 
lambs of the mutton breeds will grow they will not be 
fat enough to bring top prices. 

Undoubtedly, where land is cheap, the best ewes 
can be obtained by crossing the Dorset ram upon the 
common Merino ewe; but where a lamb, seven to ten 
weeks old, will sell for as many dollars, one can hardly 
afford to raise the ewe lambs for breeders. 

Very satisfactory results may be obtained by se- 
lecting fair sized healthy ewes of common Merino 




HOTHOUSE LAMBS. I3I 

crosses, those of good bodies, low down, with good 
udders and from three to six years of age, and using 
on them Dorset rams. Lambs of this cross will be 
wonderfully hardy and active, and at from seven to 

ten weeks old will be riper and 

with larger kidneys than any 

other combination. 

For a few weeks previous to 

putting the ram with the ewes 
I it is advisable to keep ewes on 

pretty poor pasture, or even to 

a champion kee P them in y ards on dr y feed - 

cross-bred wether. But a week before coupling 
change ewes to better feed and feed a little oil meal 
daily to cause ewes to gain. Nothing is better for this 
than a field of rape ; it is wonderfully stimulating. 
But the ewes should never be turned into a rape field 
when it is wet, or when their stomachs are empty, as 
it is liable to cause bloat and death. Better turn in 
an hour or two in the middle of the day, taking from 
another pasture and gradually accustom them to rape. 
Even then they should always be allowed the run of 
an old pasture. 

The tail of a winter lamb is a sort of " trade- 
mark," an evidence that it is indeed a baby lamb, but 
it is advisable that the male be castrated. This, done 
when the lamb is two days old, will hardly cause any 
pain, and a seven weeks' old wether lamb will do bet- 
ter and have a larger kidney than a ram eight or nine 
weeks old. When the rams are left entire they are 
always running about teasing all the other lambs and 



132 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

even the ewe lambs will be so much annoyed as to 
be much injured. 

As soon as the lambs commence to eat, which 
will be quite early, they should have a part of the 
yard fenced off into which they can go at pleasure and 
help themselves to all the bright, early cut clover hay 
they will eat. Give them fresh hay twice a day, and 
only ask them to eat the heads and leaves, giving the 
balance to other stock. Horses will eat it all the bet- 
ter for having been nosed over by the lambs. In 
addition to this, give them all the grain they will eat, 
cracked corn — not meal — oats, barley, wheat, peas, 
wheat bran, and oil cake cracked about the size of 
corn are all good for the lambs, and it is advisable to 
change often from one to another, and the troughs 
should be cleaned out at least twice a day, filling with 
fresh feed. Besides this, they should have access to 
all the mangolds they will eat. 

There is always a good demand for a few really 
choice lambs for Thanksgiving, then for Christmas, 
and from New Year's on the market wants them in 
increasing numbers until the first of June, when they 
cease to be sold by the head and are sold by the 
pound, when the price often drops half in one day. 
The best prices are usually about the middle of Feb- 
ruary, but much depends upon the supply and 
demand. In good times the usual price for really fine, 
ripe, fat lambs runs along about ten dollars per head 
up to Easter, and seldom goes below seven dollars at 
any time for those " gilt edged." 

Ewes for winter lambs should have plenty of 
room. To crowd them is not only bad for the ewes 



HOTHOUSE LAMBS. I33 

but for the lambs as well. A pen sixteen feet square 
is large enough for twenty, and to this there should be 
an annex six by sixteen feet for a lamb creep. The 
racks should be so constructed that the lambs can not 
get upon the feed or into the troughs in which grain 
is fed, and while the ewes should have all they can 
eat, no food should be allowed to remain in racks or 
troughs and get stale. It is also very necessary that 
they have an abundant supply of clean, fresh water 
always accessible. The water dishes should be kept 
clean. 

A good ration for the ewes consists of clover hay, 
silage, corn, oats, barley, peas, wheat bran, and lin- 
seed meal. No animal loves a variety so well as 
sheep, and it is not advisable to confine the ewes to 
any steady diet. 

Clover hay and silage are the standbys and should 
be fed every day and all they will eat of the hay and 
about four pounds of silage to the hundred pounds of 
sheep daily. It is also a good plan to feed from one 
to two pounds of roots — turnips to January, and man- 
golds after — to each, daily. Of course, this is suppos- 
ing the ewes are in warm folds, for it would be foolish 
to expect to make greatest success with them in any 
other. 

Of the grains, nothing is so good for the pregnant 
ewes as plenty of wheat bran, and this is also a fine 
feed for milk production. I would advise feeding it 
liberally at all times. 

If the silage is made of corn having plenty of grain 
in it, the ewe will not need much corn in her ration. 
But it is advisable to change the grain often. 



134 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

The old notion was that the ewes must not be 
grained much until after lambing for fear of bad results 
to ewe and lamb, but that is exploded. It is far bet- 
ter to begin graining the ewe so as to have her in 
good condition before the lamb drops, and if properly 
fed, with plenty of succulent food, no fear need be felt 
of bad results in lambing, or a want of milk to feed 
the lamb as soon as born. If the ewe be judiciously 
fed no trouble will be had of scouring, but if it does 
appear, from any error in feeding, prepare this 
mixture : 

One fluidounce castor oil, 

One dram laudanum, 

One fluidounce chloric ether. 

Shake well and divide into five parts, and give 
one to the lamb twice daily. If the lamb is very 
young, reduce the dose. Give in oatmeal gruel. 




Chapter XXII. 
THE SHEPHERD. 



11 The good shepherd loveth his sheep." 

Success in the sheep business depends as much 
upon the shepherd as upon the sheep. The breed 
does not make so much difference, although the 
choice of this should be made in accordance with the 
location of markets, the character of the soils and 
the local conditions. The feeding is of importance, 
in that the right kind of feed, fed in proper amounts 
at regular times, is necessary ; but the most important 
of all is the man behind all this — the shepherd who 
does the breeding and the feeding, who looks to the 
every want of his sheep, who knows if a single sheep 
is sick or off feed, and at once seeks the cause and 
applies the remedy, who knows his sheep as himself, 
and the better the shepherd knows and does all these 
things, the better he likes his business and the more 
profit he derives from it. 

The shepherd must like his sheep and care for 
them. Men who do not like sheep should not keep 
them. They can not attend to them properly and will 
have no interest in getting the most from their flock. 
Not every man is fitted to care for sheep, but there are 
thousands who might if they would, and knew the 
nature and profits of a sheep. 

In the shepherd, it is the ability to notice little 
things, and realize their importance, that leads to sue- 



I36 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

cess. A sheep may not eat grain. Nine out of ten 
sheep growers (they are not shepherds) pay no atten- 
tion to the fact, often do not know it, the sheep 
becomes poor and sickly, the grower wonders what 
is the matter. Soon the sheep dies, and then the 
owner becomes disgusted, and either runs down the 
business or quits it. If the latter, so much the better. 
But with the real shepherd it is different. He sees 
that the sheep does not eat, he at once tries to find 
the cause, and if it is due to overfeeding or dirty 
grain, or whatever it may be, the cause is removed, 
and every effort is made to bring the sheep back on 
feed, and this is nearly always successful. The same 
in everything connected with the care of sheep ; atten- 
tion must be given to details. Sheep must eat and 
drink regularly, and have clean, fresh food and water 
all the time in order to thrive and be profitable. And 
for all these things the shepherd is responsible. 



SCRAPS. 

Sheep and curs do not belong on the same farm. 

Sheep dislike to have their hay racks used for hen roosts. 

Do not look to the tariff for your profit so much as to the 
flock. 

Eighteen inches of rack room is required by each medium- 
sized sheep. 

Shepherds are said to be like poets, born, not made. No man 
can tell, though, until he tries. 

Ewes that lose their lambs should be made to raise some twin 
or orphan. It is better for the ewe, and it surely helps the lamb. 

You can tell a sheep farm as far as you can see by the fence 
corners. There are no weeds nor briers. Everything looks clean 
and thrifty . 



THE SHEPHERD. I37 

In feeding hay or straw in racks, see that it goes in the rack, 
and not half of it under their feet for bedding ; the latter is almost 
pure waste. 

If our seventy-five million people eat as much mutton per head 
as the half as many British do, we would want fully a hundred 
million sheep. 

Make sheep more in demand by feeding some for family use* 
When mutton is cured in a weak brine you can keep it and always 
have choice meat. 

Sheep stretch and strain because they are constipated. This 
is called the disease of " stretches." Give bran and oil meal, and 
turn to grass as soon as possible. 

The shed must not be close. In fact, it is better if left open on 
one side. Sheep need air, and it does no harm if it is cold air; 
but they must be protected from storms. 

Sheep are the most profitable live stock kept on a farm , and 
there are few farms to which they are not adapted. They live on 
the least expensive feed, and grow two crops at the same time, 
wool and mutton. 




THE YOUTHFUL SHEPHF.R] 



Chapter XXIII. 



THE RANGE. 



About sixty per cent, of the sheep in the United 
States are run under range conditions, which prevail 
west of the Missouri River. The conditions under 
which sheep are handled on the range are so different 
from the caring of sheep on an eastern farm that it is 
difficult to make a farmer realize western conditions 
and methods. 

Sheep on the range know no shelter except that 
of a corral, which is an uncovered yard with a high, 
tight pole or board fence, or of some sheltering cliff in 




A WYOMING SHEEP RANGE. 

time of storm. There are no barns and no sheds, but if 
it storms the wool is the only protection to the sheen. 
except as they can get into some ravine or behind 
some hill out of the wind. 



THE RANGE. I39 

There are no fences which turn sheep. All fencing 
on the range consists of three, and sometimes four, 
barbed wires, and are only for turning cattle or horses. 
Sheep are handled in flocks or bands of 2000 to 3500, 
generally about 2500. With each flock is a herder, 
who, with his dog, tends the sheep all the time, eating, 
sleeping and living with his sheep. He lives either in 
a wagon made for the purpose, containing bed, stove, 
provisions, and other essentials, or in a tent or cabin, 
depending on whether the feed for the sheep is very 
good, or is so scarce that it requires moving of the 
sheep and wagon once in two to four weeks ; in the 
latter case a wagon is necessary. 

The herder watches and protects the sheep. He 
directs them to where they shall feed, and if they wan- 
der too far away he turns them back with his faithful 
assistant, the shepherd dog. The latter is an invalu- 
able aid in handling sheep on the range, in fact is as 
essential as a herder. During the day the flock 
spreads out and grazes, each sheep generally traveling 
from five to seven miles each day for his feed, picking 
here a bit and there a bite of the rich natural grasses 
that grow on the same places where once the buffalo 
roamed. Grass is the only feed. 

At night, the sheep returning to near the wagon 
or tent, bunch and camp on the bedground, that is 
they bunch and lie down the same as a flock in a field, 
and require no watching by the herder through the 
night, unless some w T ild animal disturbs them or a 
severe storm comes up ; in any case, the dog is on 
guard. In the morning, they are up and traveling for 
their feed. 



I40 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Water is secured from a creek or spring, and the 
need of water requires the placing of the wagon near 
it. In winter, range which has no water in summer 
can be grazed, the snow taking the place of water. 

Lambing is principally in April and May, and 
must be along some creek where there is plenty of 
feed and water, and if the contour of the country fur- 
nishes shelter from wind and storm, so much the 
better. As fast as the ewes lamb they are taken from 
the "drop bunch," and the ewes with lambs one to 
four days old are put in a flock by themselves ; as the 
lambs become older and stronger, the several small 
flocks are turned together, and when lambing is done 
all are in one flock again. During lambing much 
extra help is required, and night herding is necessary 
much of the time. 

Shearing is done before or after lambing, accord- 
ing to the idea of the owner and the conditions of loca- 
tion, weather and feed. This is generally done at 
public pens, as near the railroad as possible, without 
necessitating too much loss of feed and flesh to the 
sheep ; however, large owners having 25,000 or more, 
often have their own shearing pens, and in connection 
with the latter a dipping vat. Dipping is often done 
soon after shearing, to kill ticks and cure scab. 

The great enemies of the range sheep owner are 
scab and wild animals, especially coyotes and wolves. 
The former is cured by dipping and care in keeping 
from infected range ; the latter are killed in various 
ways, but from our knowledge, greyhounds have been 
quite as successful as any means tried. 



Chapter XXIV. 



SHEEP BREEDING ASSOCIATIONS. 



The following is a list of the secretaries of the 
various sheep breeders' associations, which publish a 
flock register. There are many small and local organi- 
zations throughout the country, which can not be 
noticed here: 

American-Delaine Merino Record, S. M. Cleaver, Delaware, 
Ohio. 

American Cheviot Sheep Society, F. E. Dawley, Fayettes- 
ville, N, Y. 

American Cotswold Association, F. W. Harding, Waukesha, 
Wis. 

American Dorset Horn Association, M. A. Cooper, Washing- 
ton, Pa. 

American Hampshire Down Association, C. A. Tyler, Cold- 
water, Mich. 

American Leicesters Breeders' Association, A. J. Temple, 
Cameron, 111. 

American Oxford Down Record Association, W. A. Shafor, 
Hamilton, Ohio. 

American Rambouillet Sheep Breeders' Association, Dwight 
Lincoln, Milford Center, Ohio. 

American Shropshire Registry Association, F. S. Springer, 
Springfield, 111. 

Continental Dorset Club, J. E. Wing, Mechanicsburg, Ohio. 

Dickinson Delaine Record, Mrs. Beulah Miller, New Berlin, 
Ohio. 

Improved Black Top Delaine Merino Sheep Breeders' Asso- 
ciation, O. M. Robertson, Eaton Rapids, Mich. 



142 BIGGLE SHEEP BOOK. 

Michigan Merino Sheep Breeders' Association, E. N. Ball, 
Hamburg, Mich. 

National Lincoln Association, Bert Smith, Charlotte, Mich. 

Standard Delaine Merino Record, R. M. Wood, Saline, Mich. 

Vermont, New York and Ohio Sheep Breeders' Association, 
Wesley Bishop, Delaware, Ohio. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Among works to which we have had access, and 
which have furnished us worthy suggestions, and also 
which we would recommend to all farmers who, hav- 
ing had an interest in sheep aroused by this little 
work, wish to make a more extended investigation into 
the field of sheep literature and to learn what sheep 
writers of the present are saying and doing, are the 
following, all of which can be had of the Wilmer 
Atkinson Co. at the price named : 

Fitting Sheep for Show Ring and Market, by \V. 
J. Clarke, $1.50. 

A Study of Breeds, by Prof. Thomas Shaw, $1.50. 

Animal Breeding, by Prof. Thomas Shaw, $1.50. 

Feeds and Feeding, by Prof. W. A. Henry, $2.00. 

Stewart's Shepherd's Manual, $1.00. 

The American Merino, by Stephen Powers, $1.50. 

Domestic Sheep, by Henry Stewart, $1.50. 

Modern Sheep Breeds and Management, by 
"Shepherd Boy," $1.50. 

Sheep Farming in America, Jos. E. Wing, $1.00. 



REFERENCE CHART 
Showing Parts of the External Sheep. 



2 ,- V 



12 



14 






15 







t. Head. 

2. Face. 

3. Muzzle. 

4. Nostril. 
5- Eye. 

6. Ear. 

7. Cheek. 

8. Neck. 

9. Withers. 

10. Throat. 

11. Back. 

12. Loins. 

13. Angle of Ilium, 

14. Rump. 

15. Tail or Dock. 



16. 


Chest. 


17. 


Shoulder. 


18. 


Elbow. 


J 9- 


Forearm. 


20. 


Knee. 


21. 


Ankle. 


22. 


Claw. 


23. 


Girth Measure. 


24. 


Side or BarreL 


25. 


Belly. 


26. 


Flank. 


27. 


Hip Joint. 


28. 


Stifle Joint. 


29. 


Hock Joint. 



INDEX. 



PAGK 

Age .113 

American Merino 17 

Associations 141 

Barn Quarters 77 

Bloating 103 

Books on Sheep Raising . . 142 

Breeds 17 

Breeding Season ....... 37 

Caked Udder 109 

Castrating no 

Cheviot Sheep 22 

Choking 102 

Climate and Location ... 29 

Constipation 104 

Cotswold 25 

Delaine Merino 18 

Diseases 101 

Dorsets 23 

Ewes at Lambing 45 

Ewe, The 35, 40 

Feeding 67 

Foundering 104 

Franco- American Merino . 19 

Goiter no 

Hampshire Down 20 

History ir 

Hothouse Lambs 130 

Lambs 51 

Leicester Sheep 23 

Lincoln Sheep 24 

Maggots . . . . 106 

Marketing: ........ 120 



PAGE 

Marking 97 

Merino Sheep 17 

Mutton Breeds 19 

Oxford Down ...... 20 

Parts of Sheep 143 

Pasture 59 

Pelts 122 

Racks 85 

Ram, The 31 

Rambouillet 19 

Range 138 

Scab 107 

Scouring 104 

Shearing 11S 

Sheep Markets 14 

Shropshire Down 21 

Slaughtering 123 

Snuffles 105 

Sore Eyes ... 107 

Sore Feet 107 

Southdown . 22 

Spanish Merino 17 

Statistics 13 

Tagging 95 

Ticks 107 

Troughs 85 

Trimming Feet 94 

Weeds 62 

Worms 105 

Wool 117 

Wool Clip 14 



MAK 2 W 2 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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